HeroComplex
by Aspirator
Summary: Two-shot. She was a troublesome reporter and he was a rude policeman. "What do you know? Organized crime is better at matchmaking than we are."
1. Chapter 1

Two-shot. She was a troublesome reporter and he was a rude policeman. "What do you know? Organized crime is better at matchmaking than we are." .

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**Hero-Complex**

_Aspirator_ .

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It was a good day. It had to be, because one could almost smell the "good day" in the air. Maybe it was the smiling pedestrians, or the peaceful atmosphere—which was never a phrase to describe Manhattan, of all places—or the scent of coffee and bread wafting in the air.

One bright, doe-eyed, golden-haired young lady strolled in the bank, humming as she went.

She smiled at the young dark-haired man at the desk. "Hi, I'm here for my appointment at eleven o'clock."

He smiled back, a dimple in his left cheek. "Sure, what's your name?"

"Mikan Sakura." She spoke confidently.

"Okay." He typed a few keys, then his eyebrows rose. "Someone will be right with you to lead you to Mr. Tobita's office."

She didn't even finish her "thank you" before a commotion started at the entrance of the bank. She turned around to see a man with a white mask firing shots at the ceiling.

There were screams, whispering, and Mikan crouched with the rest of the civilians at the bank, back against the counter. The man came with two subordinates. He ordered them quietly, pointing this way and that.

After they split up, he approached the counter. Mikan shook her head at her luck. Of course, the one day she goes to the bank, there has to be a classic bank robbery.

"I'd like to make a withdrawal." The man with the mask sneered evilly. Not waiting for the shaking bank clerk to reply, he growled, "Open the safe."

The bank clerk seemed to have found his voice for he croaked out, "I-I-I-c-can't."

The robber, as if rolling his eyes, spoke impatiently. "Then call someone who can."

"I-I-I— Mister— He's not he-here." The bank clerk cowered under the man's glare.

"Really." The man with the mask sighed, as if it was such a pain, and pulled up his gun to the clerk's temple. The clerk's eyes widened, sputtering.

Mikan's eyes narrowed. The man is torturing the poor boy! Her attention was diverted, however, when she caught wind of chatter. She looked around the bank, realizing that one of the masked man's henchmen were collecting valuables from civilians.

Before she realized it, the voices came closer, and soon enough, a man stood in front of her.

He was tall, that was the first thing she noticed, but it might have been because she was crouching. The man had his hand stuck out, a bag in his other hand. She blinked, and the man demanded impatiently for her valuables. Frowning, she reluctantly handed him her nice Tiffany and Co. bracelet. When he didn't move his outstretched palm, she merely glared him down. He stared at her for a second, then shrugged, moving on.

"I-I-I'll c-call—" the clerk was saying, holding his hands up in surrender. He slowly and deliberately reached for the phone, typing in a few keys, and waited.

The man in the mask twirled the gun in his hand as he waited, looking around at his audience. Then he spotted her, cowering right next to him. He leered at her.

Suddenly, bank clerk spoke, catching his attention, "Uh—I— can you open the vault?" There was a slight pause as the man on the other line replied. Then he hung up. "He-he's c-coming."

The man in the mask merely nodded, then walked around the counter to the vault. Mikan couldn't contain her curiosity, so, making sure that none of the bank robbers saw, she quietly crept closer.

Yuu Tobita walked out curiously from the back, having been called in. He sure wasn't prepared for what he saw. His eyes widened, and he paused in his step, everything hitting him at once. So that was why his bank clerk sounded so nervous on the phone.

Taking a deep breath, he took cautious steps to the vault, where a dark masked figure stand waiting for him. He caught sight of Mikan inching closer. Inwardly, he shook his head.

"May I help you?" The evenness of his own voice surprised him.

"Open the safe," the masked man growled, having waited long enough.

"I'm sorry," Yuu refused, "we have some procedures for this."

When the man raised his gun, Yuu added quickly, "But I can make the process faster for you—this will not be on record." His professional voice returned to him. "Let's start with your name."

"Persona." The man smirked, deciding to humor him.

"Okay." Yuu nodded. "How much money would you like to withdraw?"

Persona seemed to think for a second then sneered. "I'll decide when I see it."

Yuu paused, deciding not to push the man too much, continued. "And why did choose this bank?"

At that, Persona grinned, baring his teeth, and sending a shiver down Yuu's spine.

Before he could answer, however, one of his henchmen approached him, whispering something in his ear.

The news wasn't pleasant for the man snapped to Yuu, growling. "You're buying time for the police. Son of a bitch."

Yuu took a step back. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about. This is standard—uh emergency procedure."

But the man was not convinced. "You waste my time…" He dug the barrel of his gun into Yuu clean tie. "I take away yours. Permanently."

Mikan's eyes widened. _Not Yuu!_

She leaped forward, tackling the man just as Yuu threw himself on the floor.

It was uncanny timing, for the doors of the bank burst open, diverting the two henchmen's attention. The policemen piled in, gun first. "NYPD! Put your hands in the air and drop your weapons." More policemen piled in and the captives were led to safety.

Mikan barely registered this all happening as she struggled with the masked man, wrestling for control of the gun, then clawing or biting him if the opportunity arises. The man was obviously stronger for her and began to regain grip of his gun. Reaching for the trigger, he pulled back mercilessly, sending a bullet though Mikan's thigh. Searing pain hit her, causing her to lose any grip she had, and fell back. She collapsed on the marbled floor painfully, clutching her wound.

Yuu gasped from the ground. "Mikan!"

Persona stood up, sneering. "Guess you'll have to go first." He pointed the gun down at the girl, ready to pull the trigger when he felt something cold hit his skin.

A deep voice from behind interrupted. "No, you will."

And that was the moment Mikan met tall, dark, and handsome.

"If you don't drop your weapon right now and put your hands in the air," a second, blond policeman pointed a gun at him from the front, adding to his comrade's comment.

Persona merely grinned, complying with the police instructions. The blond policeman kept the gun on him as he nudged the weapon with his foot to a nearby policeman, who picked it up with a glove.

Tall, dark, and handsome cuffed the man, then handed him off to another officer, who told him his rights as he led him away.

Mikan struggled to stand.

Suddenly, a gentle hand supported her elbow. She smiled. "Yuu! You're okay?"

He smiled in response, letting her go once she's stable. "Thanks to you."

The two policemen turned to them. "Hi, I'm Ruka Nogi," the blond started. "I'm with the NYPD." Then he nudged tall, dark, and handsome not-so-subtly.

Tall, dark, and handsome grunted, "Natsume Hyuuga." and said no more.

It suddenly struck her that he had the deepest, most intense red eyes she had ever seen. Mikan smiled and nodded. "Mikan Sakura. I would shake your hand but mines a bit…" She looked down at her own hand, soaked in blood. "Dirty."

"That's okay. I saw the whole thing." The blonde smiled. "That was very brave of you."

Natsume rolled his eyes, muttering, "No, that was dumb and unnecessary."

Mikan scowled at him. "What's dumb and unnecessary is _you_, standing around doing nothing while people are about to get killed."

Ruka coughed, covering his mouth and attempting to hide a laugh.

Natsume shot him a glare then returned sardonically. "Right, because I didn't just save your life."

Mikan made a face at the rude policeman, about to retort, but a burst of pain shot through her. She gasped, then fell forward.

Although three pairs of hands reached out, only Natsume caught her with ease.

Faintly, she heard, "Where is the damn ambulance when you need it?"

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Noise.

Beeping.

When she blurrily opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was white. Blindingly white.

Her vision came to focus and her memory rushed into her mind. Milan had remembered everything, and yet all she could think right then was how annoyingly rude tall, dark, and handsome was. What was his name? _"Natsume Hyuuga."_ right. Somehow, it suited him.

She shook her head, physically trying to get rid of thoughts of that foul man.

Just then, a sweet nurse walked in, "Ah, you're awake!"

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Mikan had been in the hospital for a few days now, and she was positively bored. And Mikan Sakura never failed to voice her opinions.

"I'm bored," she whined to her nurse, Nonoko.

Nonoko smiled, "I'll see what I can do."

Not a moment later, someone walked in the room.

Her eyes snapped up to meet deep scarlet ones. She scowled. "When I said I wanted entertainment, I didn't mean tall, dark, and handsome."

His eyebrow quirked in amusement on the way to a chair on the side of her bed.

Oops, did she say that out loud?

As he sat down, he drawled, "Good. I'm not here for entertainment."

"I'd rather go back to being bored." She matched his bored tone with her own.

Ignoring her, he continued. "I have a few questions."

"I'm busy." she huffed, turning away.

_How old is this girl?_ Natsume thought. He deadpanned, "You just said you were bored."

"Well, I'm busy being bored."

"Well, too bad." He didn't give her time to reply as he started. "Just for the record, where were you between one and three p.m. on Monday?"

"The bank," she replied shortly. "What happened?"

"You were there." When Natsume glared pointedly, she sighed. "There was a bank robbery."

"Talk about the felons."

Tall, dark, and handsome didn't even ask—he ordered! Mikan scowled. "What's the magic word?"

"What, are we in preschool?"

"Might as well go back and relearn your manners."

Natsume rolled his eyes, "Look, the faster this is, the less time we have to talk. Just tell me about the bad guys."

Mikan sighed, reluctantly narrating, "One had a mask, and he was like, the leader or something. Said his name was Persona. Another one was blond, spiky hair, I don't know. They all wore black. I didn't really see the other one. There were three. Didn't you just arrest them?"

Natsume ignored her question. "What did Persona want?"

Mikan shrugged. "Why don't you ask him?"

Natsume merely stared her down. Mikan glared back, holding her chin up defiantly. "Just talk." He rolled his eyes, then added, with mirth, "Little girl."

"I'm not—how dare you! I'm as old as you are!"

"How do you know how old I am?" Natsume raised his brow in amusement. "Been checking me out?"

"I wasn't—ugh! Screw you!"

Mikan realized her mistake a second too late, he snorted. "You wish."

Unable to conjure up a retort for that, Mikan opted to kick him. Or, she tried.

Natsume blinked. "First of all, you're short. Second of all, you shouldn't be trying to assault a police officer. Third of all, you're in a hospital gown." Then his blank face morphed into a smirk. "Polka-dots."

It took her a moment, but when she did realize, she gasped so comically his smirk almost widened. Then she shrieked, "You pervert!"

"Little girl," he retorted easily.

Before neither of them could react, however, his phone rang. He easily picked it up. "Hyuuga." There was a pause, then he replied with a mere, "I'll be right there." Not even allowing the other end to respond, he hung up.

Turning to Mikan, he spoke dryly, "I don't have much time. What did they do at the bank?"

"I don't answer to perverts," Mikan replied stubbornly.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Natsume reasoned. "Are you gonna help me convict the people who tried to kill your beloved Yuu Tobita or are you going to help me?"

When he phrased it that way...Mikan quipped. "Persona wanted money but didn't get it. The second one was collecting people's valuables. I didn't see the third guy."

With that, Natsume stood up to leave, merely nodding in finality.

"Normal people say thank you and goodbye!" Mikan shouted after him.

Natsume only paused to smirk at her. "But tall, dark, and handsome is not normal people."

Mikan growled, taking her pillow and throwing it at him.

Natsume was too quick. The pillow hit the recently closed door and fell on the ground.

Mikan frowned. Now how was she supposed to get that pillow? A few minutes passed as Mikan poutingly stared at the pillow on the ground.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Nonoko with an iPad. Her brows furrowed as she picked up the pillow. "Did you throw a pillow in your boredom? I wasn't gone that long, was I? I managed to sneak you an iPad."

Mikan only giggled at Nonoko, accepting the iPad graciously. "Thank you."

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Natsume was off-duty. Which was quite rare since Natsume liked being on duty. It was one of those quirks about him. Natsume was a workaholic - in a policeman kind of way.

But that morning, he was interrogating Persona and...let's just say, it didn't go well.

So now Natsume was prowling the streets in one of his moods. He was dressed casually in a T-shirt and sweatpants, but that didn't stop the woman from ogling him at every turn. His scowl deepened.

Getting some air had been a bad idea, he supposed, he'd just go home. He took one glance at the large crowd at the bus stop, and he decided he'll get a little more air walking home.

There was something about alleyways that Natsume liked. It was dark, it was quiet, and empty. He wouldn't say it was peaceful, but it was empty. He sighed inwardly; maybe this was why Ruka called him an introvert.

He joined the crowds at the streets and almost winced at the noise. A few minutes later, he was back in another alleyway. At the other end was an unpleasant commotion.

This time, Natsume let out a long suffering sigh. Most of the time alleyways were empty.

"Leave her alone!" a familiar voice demanded bravely. Natsume couldn't quite place who that voice belonged to, but somehow it irked him.

As he approached, he assessed the situation. Five thugs were surrounding two women. One woman was cowering behind the other, and the other woman—oh, it was Polka. Mentally, he groaned.

"Yeah? What are you gonna do if we don't?" the thugs laughed.

Mikan didn't answer as she tried to hit them with her crutch. She knocked the breath out of Thug Four but Thug Two easily caught the thing and threw it aside.

"Now there are two of them," Thug four wheezed.

Thug one growled. "That's okay we can have them both."

"You're not having anyone!" Mikan retorted angrily.

"We'll see about that." Thug three cracked his knuckles, and the five closed in on the two.

Tall, dark, and handsome just came outta nowhere.

Mikan gasped, and in less than two minutes the five men harassing them were on the ground, nursing their newfound injuries.

Once the thugs limped off, grumbling, Natsume rounded on Mikan. "What the hell are you doing, Polka?"

"Stop calling me that!" She picked up her crutch. "And what are _you_ doing here?" Mikan growled back, huffing, _of course_ this damned man doesn't have a single scratch on him after beating up five tough guys.

Natsume almost threw up his hands in frustration. "Saving you and this little girl from getting raped!"

"Well, I don't need your help! And this little girl's name is Nobara!" Mikan huffed, stalking away—or as much stomping as she could manage with a crutch—and the college girl trailing shyly behind her.

Natsume couldn't believe the nerve of this woman. Falling in step beside her without much effort, he retorted, "Yeah because you look real fit." And at that, he glared pointedly at her still bandaged thigh and the crutch. "To beat up five guys."

Mikan gritted out, "Well, we are okay now." She attempted to walk faster with an impaired leg. "Goodbye."

Natsume rolled his eyes, turning around and walking in the direction he originally intended to go. A shy voice stopped him. "W-wait!"

He paused momentarily to glance over his shoulder. It was the college girl, caught between him and Mikan, shyly she sputtered, "I-I-um-Th-thank you!"

He only nodded gently, then turned back around and left quickly. Mikan scowled at the way the rude policeman regarded the college girl. Nobara turned to her, lost, and she spoke gently, "That's his way of saying you're welcome."

Nobara nodded gently. "Oh."

And they went on their merry way.

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Natsume scowled as he glanced at his watch for the umpteenth time that afternoon. Seated comfortably at a local diner, he waited for his company to arrive.

It didn't take long, for a strong voice called out, "Natsume!" He turned to see Ruka running in the diner, then standing in front of him.

"You're late." Natsume greeted unceremoniously, indicating the seat in front of him. Ruka glanced at his watch, and laughed. "You couldn't wait five minutes? Actually, I met someone on the way here."

He stepped aside to sit down, and revealed an all-too-familiar face.

Natsume growled, turning to Ruka. "Why did you bring her here?"

Mikan pulled up a chair and sat down on another side of the table. "Well, it's nice seeing you too."

Ruka smiled amiably, "Well, I thought we could help her out."

"I've helped her out enough." He was planning to have a nice, normal lunch with Ruka, dammit.

Sighing, Ruka smiled amiably at Mikan. "Ignore him."

Mikan smiled amiably back. "Gladly." There was a pause as a waitress brought out food for two people. "We come here often," Ruka told Mikan as way of explanation, then told the waiter, "Can you get the same thing for Mikan here?"

When the waitress left, he turned to the woman in question. "It's really good, I promise." Then paused, "Wait, you're not allergic to bacon or anything, are you?"

"No, no." Mikan stared at their food. "You have bacon for lunch?"

Ruka grinned sheepishly, and it was Natsume, who was tired of being ignored, that answered, "Yeah. Problem?"

"That's awesome! I love bacon!" Mikan told Ruka, completely ignoring Natsume. He rolled his eyes.

"Good." Ruka smiled. "You'll like our lunch for today."

Mikan nodded enthusiastically, and just on cue, the waiter returned with a plate and a drink for Mikan.

Once the waiter left, Mikan smiled openly at the two. "So, how's the case going?"

When she was met with two blank faces she added, "The bank robbery thing?"

Before Ruka could respond, Natsume interrupted, "What do you know about that?"

"I was part of it, duh?" Mikan rolled her eyes. "You interviewed me!"

"So?"

"So what?" Mikan dug into her food. "So I wanna know!"

"We're working on it," Ruka intervened. "We got some…leads, I guess." He shrugged. "I don't know."

Mikan nodded. "But it's a bank robbery, right? And you caught them? So why is the investigation taking so long?"

"Well, Persona's not exactly a bank robber." Ruka smiled sheepishly, glancing at Natsume, who said nothing so far.

Mikan nodded. "Oh."

Before they could say anymore, Ruka's phone rang. He excused himself, then stepped away to take the call.

Natsume narrowed his eyes at Mikan, "What are you trying to pull?"

Mikan sat back. "Excuse me?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Why are you so suspicious of me?!" Mikan scowled. "Ruka was nice enough!"

"Ruka is too nice to say no."

Mikan was silent. Then she started, "I was just trying to help."

"Help? By asking questions? How is that supposed to help?"

"Some people think better when they brainstorm." From the look they shared, they both knew she was bluffing. But she held her ground.

"Yeah," Natsume scoffed. "And some people sneak information for the enemy."

"We're not at war! Are you suggesting —" Mikan gasped. "How dare you!"

Natsume only looked away from her offended expression.

Mikan fumed silently.

When Ruka returned there was an uncomfortable silence hanging over the table. "So...what's up?" he asked brightly, looking between the two.

Mikan spoke first, "Thanks for the lunch."

"What? Leaving already?"

"I'm just gonna go." She gathered her things, muttering, "Since I'm not welcome here." She stood up, nodding. "Yeah. Uh, see you around, I guess." She left quickly.

Once Ruka saw her leave, he turned to Natsume, "What was that?"

He shrugged.

"Mikan's a nice girl." Ruka looked at him disapprovingly. Contrary to what he expected however, Ruka didn't stand up to go after her. Instead he stared at Natsume.

He looked up. "What?"

Ruka frowned at him, "I'm tired of trying to explain you to crying girls. You go fix it."

Natsume stared back, but Ruka was unforgiving. At length, Ruka sighed, placing his hands on the table, he leaned in. "Okay, how about this. If you go fix that, I'll lay off your back about being single, and Hotaru Imai will lay off your back."

Natsume eyes widened the slightest bit. "Hotaru Imai?"

"She's Mikan's best friend. If Mikan goes crying to her, you're in a hell lot of more trouble than just your pride deflating a millimeter." Ruka grinned.

Sometimes Natsume hated that Ruka learned to blackmail from his girlfriend. Other times he hated that Ruka had a girlfriend and was forever holding that over him. He sighed. "Fine. You're paying."

Though he walked confidently, Natsume left the diner feeling unease. What was he supposed to say to her anyway? He didn't have to walk far before he heard her voice.

"Let. Me. Go!"

Natsume frowned, that was not what he was expecting to hear. He glanced around the corner to see one man holding Mikan down, one man interrogating her, and another man looking around, threatening any passersby that try to interfere.

This was a well-planned ambush. But why? Natsume stepped back behind the corner, planning his rescue as he listened.

"What did you tell them?"

"Nothing!" Mikan yelled back.

"Don't lie to me, bitch!"

"I'll show you a bitch—" Mikan growled.

There was sharp growl of pain, and a grumble. "Bitch bit me!"

Natsume almost snickered.

A second male voice continued incredulously. "You ate lunch with two policemen on our case and you said nothing? You didn't give them anything?"

Natsume took out the gun he always carries around, unlocking the safety hatch.

"Yes! Let me go!"

"You're lying," the first male voice growled.

There was a gasp, the same time Natsume spotted a flash of light bouncing off a passerby's phone.

"Fine." The second voice was more reasonable. "I'll let you go...if you give us any information you have."

Natsume peered around the corner to see a knife held against her throat.

There was a millisecond pause, and Mikan replied quietly, "They didn't tell me shit. Police confidentiality or whatever."

Natsume paused, swallowing the fact that he was just proven wrong.

"You don't have information?" came a skeptical voice.

In the same glance, he spotted a gun in each of the men's pockets, easily accessible.

"Not yet," snickered voice one.

Natsume smirked, but that was their mistake. They didn't have it in their hand. It would take a second more to access. And a second was all he needed.

"How about you work for us, hm?" the second voice continued.

Natsume didn't give Mikan time to answer for he leaned against the corner and shot the lookout man in both thighs and right arm, causing him to collapse. In the next second, when the second man was reaching for his gun, he shot the man in the same three spots. When the third man turned around, he was in front of him, taking the knife out of his hand, gun out of his pocket, then using his own gun to land a harsh blow to his head.

Mikan didn't even have time to breathe before Natsume grabbed her wrist and dragged her along as he ran to disappear in the crowd.

Once Natsume deemed them safe, he let her go. Mikan deemed that moment appropriate to talk. "What was that?"

Natsume threw her a cursory glance as he walked. "That was me rescuing you."

"But you hate me!"

"So?"

Mikan didn't respond as they walked on, then she stopped. "You're just guilty they want something from you and they came to me instead."

Natsume stopped too. Sighing he glanced at the direction they were headed, then looked at her. "What is your problem? I just saved your ass. You're supposed to say thank you then move on."

"_My_ problem?" Mikan threw her hands up incredulously, "My problem is you." She stuck her index finger in the middle of his chest. "You say one thing, and then you do something else."

Natsume merely stared at her, and then moved on.

Mikan huffed, trailing along behind him.

Somewhere along the way, Mikan got tired of silence and spoke up. "You know what I do for a living?"

"No, and I don't care."

"I'm a reporter." Mikan continued, "Maybe that's why I'm so interested. It's in my job description to follow up and to investigate. So I want to follow up and investigate."

"Are you going to report?"

There was a pause. "No. Don't you trust me?"

"I just met you," was his short reply, which obviously meant no.

Mikan frowned. "I was just trying to help."

"You?" Natsume glanced at her skeptically.

"Sometimes, reporters know a little bit more than the police."

"Rarely," Natsume scoffed.

Mikan continued, "Like the fact that Yuu's office was searched."

Natsume paused, swallowing the information. Damn, he didn't know that.

He shrugged. "That could be useful."

There was another moment of awkward silence.

Then Natsume cleared his throat awkwardly. "Look, don't take anything I say to heart, or whatever you little girls do with words."

Mikan giggled a little, and Natsume, for the life of him, could not understand why.

At length, he heard a quiet, "I forgive you."

It was almost unnerving how this girl he barely knew understood him so perfectly.

Natsume didn't respond.

When they arrived at the diner, Ruka was standing outside looking around. When he spotted them, he grinned enthusiastically. "_Oh_." Ruka looked at Natsume meaningfully. "_I see_."

Mikan wasn't sure what that meant but apparently it was something between the two men for Natsume glared at him. "No, you don't."

Ruka nodded determinedly, "No, I do."

Mikan couldn't help but let out. "See what?"

Instead of the expected explanation, that shut the two of them up. Ruka just smiled and Natsume looked away in annoyance.

Ruka turned to Mikan. "I just got a call and we have to go to the station. I'll see you soon?"

"Oh—yeah, sure." Mikan smiled.

Natsume lingered a little bit after Ruka to mutter to her, "Take the bus. Or subway."

Mikan scowled at him. "Don't tell me what to do."

Natsume rolled his eyes, turning to leave, "Fine put yourself at risk, I don't care."

Mikan only turned away stubbornly, but a passerby could witness that she had a smile on her face as she walked to the nearest bus station.

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Natsume groaned inaudibly, refraining—just barely—from banging his head against the desk. He could see a headache coming on.

"Anything?" Ruka asked, approaching empty handed.

Natsume shook his head. "No. There's just something really off about this case."

"Yeah, we just can't pin Persona and his men down for attempted murder."

"No, not—" Natsume paused, looking at Ruka. "What happened to the surveillance camera? The witness statements?"

Ruka looked away sheepishly. "It got destroyed the same day Persona and them escaped."

Natsume slumped, his hands messaging the sides of his head. Now he definitely has a headache.

"I mean, we still have witnesses! We can go back and interview them." They both knew they were now grasping at straws. "Right?"

Natsume shook his head. "No. They've probably been scared shitless."

Ruka sighed. "Damn." Then he paused. "What were you saying before? Something off about the case?"

"Persona went to the bank, but he didn't get what he wanted."

Ruka nodded. "Okay? We interfered."

"No he had to be stalling. And he got himself caught, on purpose."

Ruka grabbed a chair, and sat down, thinking aloud. "He's careful. He's never been caught…everything was planned." Then something lit up inside his brain. "He got himself caught so he could look for something…here?"

Natsume added, "They also searched Yuu's office."

"So they're looking for something that could be in Yuu's office or here." Ruka nodded. "But what?"

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The amount of time Natsume spent at the station was unbelievable. One could almost assume he didn't have a home. But he did. If one multiplied the amount of time he spent at home by two, the amount of time he spent at the station would have that and some. He passed that number years ago.

This time, he was trying to figure out what Persona was looking for—digging through old files, everything. But there was nothing on him. Nothing at all.

It frustrated him to no end. And the escape. How could Persona have escaped?

Until now, he had only one conclusion. The culprit had a connection inside the station. He was close to finding it, but he still had a few suspects to narrow down.

Idly, he listened to radio chatter as he worked.

It was past midnight when he heard it.

"Gunshots fired from the alleyway between 86th and 25th east."

Natsume froze. That was the way Mikan got home. In a flash he was on his motorcycle and weaving around the streets. He berated himself; just because that was one of the alleyways Mikan passes through doesn't mean it's actually her. It could be anyone. But that didn't stop him from hastily jumping off his motorcycle and running into the alleyway.

Of course it was her.

One man was sprawled on the ground nursing an injury to his waist, possibly a gunshot. Another man was holding Mikan down, the gun to her temple. Natsume already had his gun out, stalking quickly closer, he shouted, "NYPD. Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air."

The hooded man snapped to him, but instead of listening, he fled, dragging the injured man behind him.

Natsume turned to Mikan, in front of her in less than a second. "What is wrong with you?!"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," was her sarcastic reply.

He didn't have time to reply for she continued softly. "You know, from what just happened, I'd think you cared about me."

" He looked away. "You would've done the same."

She hummed, then sighed. "I knew you cared when you saved me so many times and you weren't in uniform." There was a pause where he didn't reply. And she continued, "You have this tough guy act but you're just a closet care bear."

Natsume snapped to her, growling. "Don't compare me to a...that."

Mikan giggled. "Aw, big tough Nattie can't say fluffy teddy bear?" she teased.

He scowled at her. Then suddenly, he became aware of how close they were. He had only very narrow alleyways to blame. Why did he felt the need to stand in front of her? Slowly, quietly, he muttered, "Go before I do something I might regret."

Mikan was not afraid. Instead, she looked at him with those big brown eyes, unaware of the turmoil inside him, and asked just as quietly, "Like what?"

Natsume didn't know why he let himself do what he did, but it just…happened. He just leaned forward, capturing her lips in a passionate, passionate kiss. His palms against the opposite building, caging her in his arms. He never intended for the kiss to deepen or for her hand to grasp his shirt so tightly, but it just happened.

When they gasped for air, he immediately released her, leaning back against the other wall of the alleyway. He didn't dare look at her. Hoarsely, he whispered, "Just...go. Leave."

There was silence, then a laugh. He looked up puzzlement, why was she still here?

But she kept laughing; when she stopped, she shook her head at him. "You say one thing but you do something else." she took a step towards him and smiled. "You don't mean it," she stated with confidence. Then she looked up at him, her palm landed lightly on his chest as his fingers instinctively rested lightly on her waist. "Do you?"

"No." He muttered quietly. He let himself do it again. He kissed her. And he kissed her again. Somehow his arms had circled fully around her small waist and her arms came around his neck and somehow he ended up pressing her against the opposite wall. Somehow he was just kissing her senseless.

Then she started talking. "Just—" she gasped between kisses, "because—you're a good kisser—mm—doesn't mean—that I forgive you—for being mean." He stopped, and Mikan was caught in the intense gaze of deep scarlet. Then he chuckled, and she blinked. Then he started laughing, and she thought it was beautiful. She couldn't help but laugh with him.

So it was one in the morning, and the two of them were just laughing and they didn't know why.

When they settled down, he smiled a rare, small smile, and said, "Go home."

She gave him a look, and he rolled his eyes. "I'll walk you home." So she smiled happily back, and he let her hook her pinky with his. Oh, she was so childish.

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He hasn't seen her in a while. He was busy, obviously, with a few cases on his docket, and for some odd reason, it was a high time for criminals to act up.

He was writing the report on a kidnapping case he solved just a few hours earlier when Mochu interrupted.

"Hey, Natsume, there's a hot chick asking for you." He shrugged at the cursory glance his colleague sent him. "Says her name is Mikan or something—" At that Natsume's head snapped up.

"_Oh_." Mochu's eyebrow rose.

Natsume knew that tone—it was the same tone Ruka used. He glared.

Mochu chuckled, unfazed. "Is that the potential girlfriend Koko's been talking about?"

Natsume grimaced. Instead of answering, he asked, "Where's Ruka?"

Mochu glanced back at the entrance of the police station. "Talking to the scary looking one, that girl, Imai or somethin'."

Natsume smirked. "That's Ruka's girlfriend."

Mochu's eyebrow rose again, "Devil's incarnate? Some odd taste Ruka's got."

Natsume nodded, silently agreeing. After Mochu patted his back and a "see you later," he proceeded to the front of the police station to meet his guest.

The sight of her almost stopped him in his tracks. She was laughing, talking to Koko brightly. What made him stop, however, was the thought that maybe she was a fresh ray of sunshine in his bleary life. He shook his head, falling back into step. When did he get sappy?

Once he was in her hearing range, he demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Koko raised a brow at his grand entrance. "Uh…what he actually means is, hello."

Mikan laughed, waving at him dismissively. "It's okay, he greets me like that all the time. It's almost like a tradition."

Koko nodded slowly. "A tradition, huh?" Then slinked away at Natsume's glare. He repeated, "What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk somewhere private?" she responded evasively looking around, still smiling amiably.

Natsume looked at her cautiously as he led her to his desk, which was as private as the police station gets—not counting the interrogation rooms.

When they settled down, Mikan started, "I lied."

Natsume's face was blank. "About?"

Mikan didn't answer directly. "If you looked at the bank records, Yuu took two appointments that day, around the time of the incident. One was Hotaru Imai, my partner in investigation, and the next would've been me if it weren't for the incident."

Natsume nodded. "So?"

"They were looking for something either me or Hotaru has. They thought it was Hotaru, so they intervened before Yuu could put it somewhere they can't reach." Then something clicked in Natsume's head. All the attacks on Mikan, the protective custody Hotaru requested. "

Why didn't you tell me this in the first place?"

At that, Mikan fidgeted. "I would've…but Hotaru told me not to tell anybody except for Yuu but apparently not anymore."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

She smiled softly. "Because I trust you almost as much as I trust Hotaru."

Natsume's brow rose. "Almost?"

She laughed. "I'd say that's pretty good since we used to hate each other."

"I saved your ass a billion times," Natsume stated pointedly.

"Maybe," Mikan teased.

"So where is it?"

She hummed, "Somewhere safe." She looked around, then stood up, "I'll see you...around." Laughing at his bewildered look, she patted his uniform pocket. He didn't miss the feeling of something small slipping into it. She's careful, he thought.

When he saw her off, Koko approached.

"You like her."

"No I don't," Natsume denied. "Stop spreading rumors."

Koko looked flabbergasted, to say the least. "No?" He scrutinized Natsume's glare, then suddenly laughed loudly. "Of course not, you're in love with her!"

"Shut up."

Though the man walked away from him, Koko's grin widened at the fact that he didn't deny it.

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It was loads of incriminating information all on one flash drive. No wonder Persona wanted it so bad.

Natsume, Ruka, and Mochu were putting it all together for their district attorneys, Koko and Kitsuneme, to present.

"What would we do without Mikan and Hotaru?" Kitsuneme commented idly, approaching with legal warrants, subpoenas, etc.

Koko snickered. "Ruka and Natsume would be single."

Ruka turned red to the roots of his blond locks and Natsume glared.

Before any more could be said, all their phones rang at once. They looked at each other in odd amusement.

All at once, they looked at their phones, and their hearts stopped dead.

Natsume growled, Ruka almost dropped his phone, Koko looked shocked, Kitsuneme glanced at Natsume and Ruka, Mochu talked for all of them. "Well, shit."

It was a video, but they could already see Mikan and Hotaru handcuffed and bound on metal chairs. Four men in all black were standing around them. They all had masks on.

The video started with the two men standing behind the captives removing their mouth gags.

Two men beside the two captives held pieces of paper in front of them. "Say it."

The two didn't react, merely staring at the piece of paper.

The man beside Mikan muttered, then slapped her hard across the face, leaving a red stain on her cheek and her head tilted sideways. She merely looked at Hotaru, who looked back at her. "Hey."

Hotaru nodded. Their eyes seem to be conversing.

"Stop talking to each other!" The man beside Hotaru ordered.

The man behind Mikan commented to the man beside Mikan. "Dude, why do you keep slapping her?"

"What the hell? Annoying bitch put up quite the fight when I had to get her, I can slap her all I want!"

"No." The man behind Mikan rolled his eyes. "I mean, you can do something else to her."

The man beside Mikan paused then dragged out the word, "Oh." He looked at Mikan in a new light.

Mikan's eyes widened, struggling in her bounds again. "Son of bitch—you— Don't touch me! I swear—"

The man behind Mikan, smirking, put back on her gag.

The two men around Hotaru turned to her, but before they could say anything, Hotaru's smooth, cold voice cut in. "Threaten me all you like, you'll never get away with this."

Then Persona's face came into view. "Quite charming, those two. You know what we want, bring it to the Central Park north entrance at eight o'clock. Don't try anything funny. If you make copies, we'll know. Destroy any evidence you already have. Every hour you don't show up, those two get a little bit of a treatment. If you show up, those two go free."

Then a hand covered the lens and the screen turned black.

Kitsuneme spoke first. "We have half an hour before eight o'clock. It takes twenty minutes to get to Central Park from here. We have ten minutes with the information."

Something caught Ruka's eye, and he glanced up to see all the security cameras in the precinct directed straight at them. Creeped out, he nudged Natsume.

Natsume acknowledged the cameras. "They're watching us."

Mochu frowned. "But there's no audio on those cameras, is there?"

"We need to be careful, just in case." Kitsuneme lowered his voice to a whisper.

Natsume nodded in concordance. "Talk quietly."

The five huddled, and the men talked, argued, reassured, and consented.

When they separated, Natsume checked his watch. "In five minutes, Kit and Koko will go to Central Park with the flash drive. The other three will be on standby."

Then the five got to work, Koko and Kitsuneme gathering up the information and warrants they have, and shredding them. Mochu was reviewing the video and trying to find any clues as to their location. Natsume and Ruka also worked on separate computers, researching any warehouses Persona owned, tracing anything that could be traced.

Twenty minutes later, Koko and Kitsuneme were on their way, when Mochu hit gold. "I think I found something."

Both Natsume and Ruka were next to him a second. Mochu had his screen up on a satellite view on the wrong address, but when their three heads blocked the view from the cameras, he opened a heat sensor view of a warehouse on the edge of the city. Talking quietly, he told them, "That's the right amount of people."

Both men took note of the address and the location as Mochu quickly closed the window.

"They're smart. It's about an hour away from here. But in Manhattan traffic right now, it'll take two or three hours. We won't be there in time." Ruka shook his head.

"Then let's not drive." Natsume smirked.

Mochu and Ruka turned to him in surprise. Natsume merely gathered his things, looking at Mochu. "You said you were in the air force?"

Mochu grimaced. "Yeah, but y'all better buckle up."

The three left, leaving a bunch of the wrong addresses on their computer screens, allowing Persona to gloat a little.

As they got on the helicopter on the roof, Ruka brought up another good point. "We have the SWAT team on standby but they'll still take time."

Natsume nodded. "Then we buy them time."

Mochu shook his head from the front seat. "We're some crazy fucks." Adjusting a few things on the board, he called to the back, just as Natsume closed the door. "A'ight, let's run."

When they approached the area five minutes later, Natsume muttered, "Okay go in quietly."

Mochu sent him an incredulous glance. "This is a damn helicopter, Nat—it doesn't do quiet."

Natsume gritted his teeth. "They're gonna be watching…but they won't be expecting something from above."

Ruka already understood where Natsume was coming from. "Mochu and I will stay and land on top,"

"I'll distract—how far are we?"

"Five blocks."

"Good, hover for a minute." Ruka opened the door, extending a long ladder, as Natsume hopped out, letting himself fall, then catching the bottom rung of the ladder at the last moment. Once he got close enough to the building, he let go, dropping down softly on top of an apartment building. He quickly took the fire escape down the streets.

Back at the helicopter, Ruka let the stairs hang, since he'll use it later, but Mochu called back, "You might wanna close the door."

Ruka frowned but did as he was told. Then he climbed up front, next to Mochu. He glanced at the altitude and his eyes widened. "We're two blocks away, wait what are you— Why are you climbing?"

Mochu only smirked. "Like Nat said, we're gonna drop down on them."

Ruka didn't need to be told twice as they approached coordinates he recognized and Mochu shut everything down.

In what seemed like the longest drop of his life, Mochu was taking everything off and putting on SWAT gear. Ruka numbly followed, also climbing to the back of the helicopter.

"I think I'm gonna puke," Ruka managed.

Mochu sent him a disgusted glance. "Puke outside; we're going out in two seconds. Do it fast, we want a surprise attack."

"But it's not gonna land—"

Mochu shook his head, opening the door and letting out the ladder. "We don't wanna be there when it lands."

They were glad it was night for they dropped down quietly in the dark of the night. They were already behind the door and waiting when they heard a crash and fire ignited, lighting up a distorted silhouette of the helicopter.

It felt like ages had past as they waited for someone to open the door for them.

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Five minutes before Koko and Kitsuneme reached the North Entrance of Central Park, a text from Natsume showed only an address. They grinned, then schooled their faces as they approached two darkly dressed men waiting.

Nodding in acknowledgement, Koko handed over the flash drive to the first man. The second man took out a laptop, plugging the flash drive in. After a few minutes of tapping keys and anxious silence, he nodded, putting the laptop away. Both men took out their guns the same time Koko and Kitsuneme did. But one of the men took out something else that made Koko's eyes widen.

"I can detonate the whole building from wherever," the man spoke, confirming their suspicions.

The first man nodded to completely black car parked nearby, with tinted windows. "Get in the car."

The two followed obediently. They're leading them to Mikan and Hotaru anyway, right?

They were blindfolded, and their hands bound. The two held no objections.

When they arrived, the place was completely silent.

Koko and Kitsuneme nudged at each other, silently communicating their confusion._ I thought Natsume and them were here._

_._

_._

_Twenty minutes earlier_

Natsume casually walked through the streets as to not raise suspicions, expertly avoiding any cameras. When he approached the building, he hid in the shadows of the night. Creeping closer, he waited at a spot by the edge of the building. Sometime, hopefully soon, a guard will pass by.

He waited, and waited. He gritted his teeth.

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_Present_

Koko and Kitsuneme led by guns wedged in the center of their backs were herded to small door on the side of the building, as a guard passed and nodded to the two other men. The guard replaced one of the men in placing a gun in Koko's back, as the man pressed a pass code in the keypad.

Koko idly cursed that he could only see blobs and silhouettes. He couldn't tell what the code was.

They were led in the warehouse. Kitsuneme quietly memorized the way they had walked. Straight, right, left.

Then they were seated down in cold, chairs. Koko noted that they didn't bother binding their legs.

Their blindfolds were taken off, and the two were nearly blinded by the brightness.

When their vision came to focus, Koko spotted Mikan and Hotaru on the other end of the room, looking more beat up than the video.

Hotaru was looking strong, staring coolly at the wall. When she caught their eyes, she nodded in acknowledgement, saying she was okay.

Mikan, on the other hand, had her head tilted to the side, eyes closed.

Koko couldn't stop himself from letting out, "Mikan!"

She lifted her head slightly, and when she spotted them, she smiled.

"Are you—are you okay? Stay awake, Mikan, you can make it!"

She nodded, she said quietly so that Koko couldn't hear but he read her lips, "Just taking a nap."

That meant she was okay. Koko spoke brightly, "You should stay awake."

Kitsuneme nodded along with Koko. "Did they hurt you bad?"

Mikan shook her head slowly and glanced at the man next to her, idly playing on his iTouch.

He looked up, and immediately Mikan went back to sleeping. Koko and Kitsuneme looked on with confusion.

The man glanced at the other man behind Mikan. "Dude, how long we gonna let her sleep?"

The man addressed lifted a shoulder. "She'll wake up eventually."

The man beside Mikan glanced at her. "Well, whatever, she'll need her energy." He chuckled darkly and went back to playing the game on his iTouch.

The two men that just walked in had headed to a room on another side.

The four men around the original captives looked up from their games. The man beside Hotaru was the first to speak in astonishment. "Oh, they're back!"

The man beside Mikan hastily pocketed his iTouch. "Damn, I still need to—" He nudged Mikan roughly. "Hey, wake up,"

Mikan woke up with a start, looking at the man questionably.

The man was already unbinding her legs from the chair, and the moment he did, she kicked him in the face. He dodged quickly, "Bitch—" He held his hand. "I'm gonna make you suffer anyway." He smirked evilly.

Mikan struggled as he pulled her up roughly and led her off.

Hotaru also struggled roughly, but the man beside her held her down.

Koko caught the two men behind the two original captive's chairs glancing at each other.

Persona walked in a few minutes later. He looked at the Koko and Kitsuneme, turned to Hotaru, then looked at the man holding Mikan, almost there. "Where're you going?"

He was met with a fidgeting silence, then the man holding Mikan answered slowly, "I was going to, uh, bring her into the room."

Persona nodded. "Fine, you can have your fun."

The man nodded, dragging Mikan along into the room.

Turning to Koko and Kitsuneme, he spoke lightly. "True to my word, I'll let them go." He paused, considering something for a moment, then nodded in finality. "I'll let you go too." He then motioned to the men behind him.

Out of four men, three stood in front of the three captives.

"I've done a bit a favor. I thought maybe, making it quick would be better." Persona laughed a little and walked off.

The three guns cocked, and Koko's eyes widened. "Hey, hey, hey, look—look, we'll keep mum."

Persona paused. "Well, yes, of course you will."

"I mean, alive, we will," Kitsuneme reasoned.

Before Persona had a chance to answer, however, the warehouse door opened. Though far away, they could hear it slamming open. Then quick footsteps preceded a tall man, also dressed in all black with the same mask.

Persona turned. "Guard? What is it? Quickly."

"We're surrounded."

Persona took out his iPhone skeptically, looking down on it, and pressing a few buttons, "No we're—"

He didn't finish for the guard shot at him, but Persona hid behind one of his men. Suddenly, it became a shoot-out. The two men behind had their guns out too, shooting at the other men.

Koko grinned as the guard took off his mask to reveal Natsume; he didn't even have to ask for Koko looked in the direction of the room.

Natsume nodded, shooting as he went. Mochu immediately ducked and rolled, coming to their side and unbinding them, handing them two more guns. Hotaru was already up and about, a gun in her hand.

More men piled in, and Kitsuneme struggled to find Persona.

"We have to cut off the snake's head!" he shouted to Mochu, who nodded to Ruka, who nodded in the direction of another entrance. Mochu and Ruka headed first, Hotaru in the middle, and Koko and Kitsuneme taking up the rear, walking backwards and shooting as they went.

They caught Persona at the back exit, surrounded by five men.

Mochu and Ruka took down two almost immediately, but Ruka took a bullet to the leg and Mochu took one to the shoulder. Koko and Kitsuneme took down two more, as Hotaru watched their backs.

Persona had bolted and Koko knocked the last man unconscious as Kitsuneme took off after Persona.

The rest stumbled after him, but a few minutes later, Kitsuneme came running back. "SWAT's here, we got him."

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Natsume barged in the room, but he was not expecting to see the man across the room, attempting to escape, and her on the ground. When the man saw him, he pointed his gun at him.

Natsume glanced at Mikan, noting with barely contained fury her disheveled appearance, her bruises and cuts, and that the top few buttons of her blouse were unbuttoned.

He ignored the man for a second, asking Mikan. "Did he—?"

She shook her head immediately. "I'm fine," she gasped from the ground.

He turned to the man, who saw his stare, and spoke shakily, "Come closer and I'll shoot."

Natsume growled, "Fine." And he threw his gun at him.

It was a good thing Natsume has good aim, for the gun hit his gun hand, causing him to misaim at the ground. Natsume marched quickly to him, but he was not fast enough. He picked up his gun the same time the other man picked up his, but he was aiming for Mikan this time.

Natsume stopped in his tracks. "Don't you dare."

"I die, she comes with me."

Natsume narrowed his eyes at him, the man slowly climbed out the window, talking as he went. "You let me live…" He was out the window, his gun still pointed at her. "She dies anyway."

Natsume's pulled the trigger, but he was too late—in a split second decision, he jumped in front of Mikan, protecting her with his body.

There was a scream.

Then he was out like the light.


	2. Chapter 2

I highly suggest reading the first part again (since I first posted it so long ago).

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Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

A long inhale of air.

White.

That was the first thing Mikan saw when she woke up. She took another long inhale then a deep exhale before she let her eyeballs roll around in slight wonder.

She saw the clean white walls, the noisy monitors and technology, then she looked down at her slightly crumpled sheets.

Everything was so familiar, it was almost identical. At first, she thought she travelled back in time.

She remembered waking up the same way so long ago when she was shot in the leg.

Mikan sat up quickly - but winced when she felt her body cry out in pain.

A torrent of memories came rushing back at her. Mostly from before her accident. Speaking of which, she wasn't exactly sure how she passed out in the first place.

Suddenly, the door shuffled open, and Mikan smiled in welcome for it was perfect timing.

She opened her mouth to fire a stream of questions but found herself uttering a single word when she saw her visitor. "Nonoko?"

The nurse laughed, her luscious pink hair bouncing with her positive attitude. "No, I'm Anna." She looked exactly like Nonoko, the same blue scrubs, the same facial structures, even the same clipboard - except she has pink hair while Nonoko has blue hair.

Mikan stuttered an apology at the mix up, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Anna waved it away quickly, "It's okay, I get that a lot." She made it to Mikan's side quickly and peered at her with a mix of concern and friendliness, "How you feeling?"

"Tired," Mikan replied honestly, then she remembered her original mission, "confused."

"Tired, I totally get," Anna smiled at her kindly, then cocked her head, "Confused..that might've come with having woken up in an unfamiliar place after such a trauma."

"Trauma?" Mikan snapped up at the word, "What trauma? I'm not traumatized"

"Not traumatized, well, I thought you want to get settled before I give you the news about your condition, I mean..."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"thirty six hours."

"thirty six hours?!" Mikan's eyes widened, "How bad is my condition?"

"It's really not that bad at all," Anna smiled at her patient, then mumbled quietly, "compared to the other patients that came in..."

Mikan looked at her questionably, "So what do I have?"

"You have a concussion." Anna stated first, "There was a bullet lodged in your arm, but looks like you're healing up nicely."

"Oh," Mikan blinked, not remembering how she got any of those injuries. "A bullet? Concussion? how?"

Anna smiled at her, "I'm not sure. Why don't you ask your visitor?"

"I have a visitor?" Mikan grinned excitedly, clapping her hands.

Anna tapped her pen against her clipboard, "Yeah, but now that you're awake the doctor has to come and..." Seeing her patient's radiant expression fall, she decided, "Oh, you can see your visitor now while you wait for the doctor."

"Yay!" Mikan's glad expression returned. Anna smiled at her before going to the door and letting Hotaru in. She exchanged a few words with her before leaving.

Mikan grinned excitedly at her first visitor, "Hotaru!" She tried to sit up, but found she was sore all over. Hotaru was by her side in a second, helping her in a comfortable sitting position.

Once Mikan was fully settled, she turned to her best friend, "Hotaru I've missed you!"

Hotaru gave her a doubtful look as she sat down on a chair next to the bed.

"unconsciously," MIkan corrected, since she _was_ unconscious for the period they were apart..ish.

Hotaru nodded, smiling softly at her for a second, before looking at the machines around her. Then her amethyst eyes focused back on her, "How are you?"

"I am fantastic, Hotaru," Mikan replied enthusiastically, "everyone seems to be asking me that - don't I look fantastic?"

"No." Hotaru stated blandly. "You look like shit."

Mikan rolled her eyes, "Okay so I do feel a little bit crappy, but I heal fast. Enough."

"You better." Hotaru replied, peering at her in concern.

"So what happened?" Mikan asked in genuine curiosity.

"I..." Hotaru paused, "I would tell you...if I knew."

"Oh." Mikan frowned, "You weren't with me?"

Hotaru stared at her as if unsure of what to think, cautiously, she replied, "I was."

"Oh." Mikan then brightened up, as if she had it all figured out, "we got separated, right?"

"Yes." Hotaru confirmed.

Mikan nodded slowly, "okay, well, I'm alive and well, see? So, it's all good, and maybe after I get released, we can go have one of our lunch dates-"

"Aren't you going to ask about Hyuuga?" Hotaru couldn't help herself from blurting. They were already on the subject, why didn't she say anything?'

Hotaru couldn't believe her chest tightening in slight fright and anxiety when Mikan gave her an incredibly pained look. Maybe she shouldn't have brought it up. Maybe Mikan meant to skirt around the subject because she didn't want to talk about it.

Her next statement nearly knocked the breath out of Hotaru.

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"Mikan," Hotaru breathed softly, sternly, "Mikan, please."

"I don't want to talk about this." Mikan turned the other way, refusing to look at her best friend.

"You can't pretend-" Hotaru sighed. "Mikan."

The patient didn't respond.

"Okay fine," Hotaru sighed, "You do remember how we came to know Mr. Narumi?"

There was a pause before a quiet mumble, "he's a nice guy."

"You didn't answer my question, Mikan."

Mikan groaned, turning back to face Hotaru, "I know. But seriously, Hotaru, I didn't need a therapist then."

Hotaru stared at her, then stated monotonously, "Mikan, when your parents died when you were ten, my family adopted you because my parents were close with your parents. For an entire year you pretended you were an orphan from outer space and came in a spaceship that landed in my backyard. Whenever you had a nightmare - since you _were_ in the same car that killed your parents - you said the aliens were coming back to get you."

Mikan stayed resolutely silent.

"When we got you a therapist, Mr. Narumi, for the first three months, you pretended you found your real birth father - Mr. Narumi - and that he had fallen in love with an alien but was too shy to tell anybody."

"I was ten."

"eleven and a half." Hotaru corrected.

"I got over it."

"Yeah when you were sixteen." Hotaru stated factually, "by that time, Mr. Narumi stopped charging us for his services, saying you were a special case and that he didn't mind pretending to be your father."

"What's your point?"

"You need to face your fears." Hotaru look at her in the eye, "Feel, Mikan, you can't always be happy. Cry. Shout. Be angry. Please, Mikan." Mikan found herself wanting to look away at the pleading she found in her best friend's eyes.

"What if I don't want to?" Mikan responded quietly.

Hotaru sat back, "This one's different from your parents' death."

Mikan looked up skeptically, "How so?"

"He's not dead."

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As Natsume drifted around in his unconscious state, and Mikan went back to a troubled sleep, their minds seemed to have gone back to their memories together.

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It was the day after Natsume saved Mikan for the second time from thugs who had tried to scare information out of her after their unsuccessful lunch at the diner with Ruka.

Natsume wasn't sure what led him to the park. Maybe he thought he'd get out of the treadmill and exercise outside for once.

And he really didn't expect to bump into her the only time he went to the park.

It's a good thing he didn't, literally, bump into her. Natsume saw her the moment he turned the corner. That Mikan Sakura girl that thought she knew him better than himself. Pfft.

She seemed to have stopped to rest, for she was emptying a bottle of water down her throat, decked out in all athletic attire - it did very nicely showcase her shape (not that Natsume was looking, or anything) - and holding onto a leash connected to a panting golden retriever.

Natsume tried to jog by subtly. But it was small trail. She threw away the bottle in a recycling bin and looked up just as he passed by.

She gave him a wide eyed look. Natsume didn't have to turn around to know that she had started jogging after him. But then again, the golden retriever to his right was a pretty big hint.

He couldn't say he was incredibly dismayed when the golden retriever started running a little ahead of him, and she started pulling up next to him.

"Hi." She greeted, "What brings you here on this fine morning?"

"Not knowing that you were here." he mumbled, then he supposed he'd be polite, "You?"

Mikan blatantly ignored his rude statement, coming up with something witty, "I'm here to save you from your boring life." Mikan stated cutely, but only earned an unimpressed look from her jogging companion.

There was an awkward silence, except for the slightly uneven breathing of the two runners and the dog, and the pounding of their rubbered soles on gravel.

"Okay..." Mikan blinking, rethinking her strategy, "I was joking."

Her companion only nodded once.

"I usually come here to jog before work." Mikan continued, without much reaction from her audience, "but you seem like a workaholic."

Natsume sent her a curious-annoyed glance, then questioned, quite rudely, "Do you always bother random strangers while they jog or were you just stalking me?"

Mikan gave him a horrified gasp, "First of all, you're not a random stranger. You saved my life about two times already-"

"Oh, now you admit it." Natsume rolled his eyes.

Mikan ignored him, "-and Ruka introduced us to each other. Second of all, you are a complete jerk, and I don't know why I was planning on thanking you in the first place."

"Okay," Natsume looked as if considering her words, then as they reached an intersection, he turned to her, "You're welcome. Goodbye." Then he jogged off to the left.

Mikan threw her hands up and let out a frustrated noise, then jogged angrily in the other direction. Pulling the dog along when he tried to run off after Natsume. "Bad Louie," She hissed at her dog, "bad."

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.

"Are you stalking me?"

Mikan straightened her clothes, dusting off her arms. She hit the man already sprawled on the ground with her purse, just for extra measure. Then she turned to the speaker.

"No." She spoke firmly, to an unblinking Natsume. She turned and continued walking.

"Really." Natsume replied, skepticism prominent in his voice. He fell in step with her.

She turned to glare at him, "Why would I be stalking you? Obviously, you're the one stalking me."

Natsume turned match her glare with a unfazed look, "I'm stalking you?"

Mikan threw her hands up, flailing her arms, "You show up out of nowhere-"

"Saved your ass-" Natsume added in nonchalantly.

"Yeah, whatever." Mikan rolled her eyes, "I can take care of myself."

"Definitely. You had me going for a minute there," Natsume replied calmly, "'maybe you should test out the gun before you shoot me - maybe on your buddy there.' That was a good one."

"Ha. Ha." Mikan retorted, unamused, "I actually think it was a good idea, if I do so say myself."

"You did say it." Natsume stated factually.

Mikan scowled in suppressed anger, then let out an annoyed sigh. She stopped in front of Natsume, looking up at him defiantly as he looked down smugly.

"Thank you." She smiled at him tightly, sweetly.

Then she turned to move on, saying dismissively, "I can take of myself from now on."

As she turned, Natsume caught a glimpse of a dark gun in her purse.

"Did you steal that from one of the guys back there?" Natsume asked catching up to her in no time.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mikan marched straight ahead.

"Do you even know how to use a gun?" Natsume followed up, refusing to let her go.

"Yes, of course," She bluffed, "Who do you think I am?"

"A bad liar."

Mikan glanced at him sharply, but walked straight ahead, "I don't need your help."

"I never said I was going to help you."

"Okay," Mikan stopped, causing Natsume to stop too, "Then what are you doing here?"

Now that Natsume was aware of his surroundings, he realized they were in front of her apartment. Not even outside her apartment building, but they were already in the hallway where her condo is.

"Doing my job." Natsume easily kept eye contact.

"Really?" Mikan seemed to trying to burn him with her eyes, except on a repressed level. Or maybe her eyes are just fierce like that. "How?"

"Saving an annoying little girl from hurting herself." He replied, almost teasingly. Then he realized something…Did he just describe a girl's eyes as smoldering?

Gasping in offence, she hissed, "I am not a little girl, you!" She huffed and stomped her foot, her clenched fists at her sides.

On the outside, Natsume stood, unfazed. However, he reluctantly broke eye contact, due to the fact that on the inside, he would have to admit that she was incredibly hot when she's mad...and he might be a little bit attracted to that. Hiding the fact that he may have just lost a staring match with a girl, he demanded, "Give me the gun."

"What gun?" Mikan blinked at him innocently.

Natsume made a grab for her purse, but she backed out of reach. "Really?"

"Don't you need a warrant?" Mikan grinned cheekily. Her smile dropped quickly, however, when she found herself trapped between the wall and Officer Hyuuga, breathless.

"Not if there's probable cause," he whispered down at her, then grabbed the gun out of her bag, holding it with two fingers. Monotonously, he state, "Oh, look what I found."

"Hey!" Mikan tried to reach for it, but Natsume grabbed her two wrists with one hand in a swift movement, and held them against her stomach, which is slightly pressing her against the wall. He held her at arm's length.

Seeing that she is defeated, Mikan demanded, "Then teach me how to use a gun."

"Now, why would I do that?" Natsume looked at her as pocketed the extra gun.

"So, I can, I don't know, defend myself next time those..." Mikan struggled to find a word to describe that random dark scary figures that try to intimidate her in dark alleys, with much success, "thugs try to find me again."

"Thugs?" Natsume looked down at her sardonically, releasing her, "I don't think they're going to bother you anymore."

"Really?" Mikan crossed her arms, "What makes you think that?"

Natsume shrugged as he turned to go, "Third time's the charm," he winked. He then smirked at the befuddled expression on her face, walking off casually, his shadow disappearing around the corner as Mikan found her breath again.

She huffed angrily as she opened her apartment door. She mumbled, "Just because they got beat up thrice doesn't mean they're not gonna come again."

What she didn't know was that Natsume was planning to keep tabs on the men he identified who are harassing her.

...and that's how he ends up saving her from the rest of her awkwardly dangerous situations later on. But she didn't need to know that.

(Did you guys really think Natsume had some kind of Mikan-trouble sixth sense? Please.)

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The doorbell rang as Natsume was pouring milk. He set the carton down and went to the door cautiously.

He opened it a crack but when he caught glimpse of the brunette hair he swung it fully open, forgetting that his upper body was bare.

He stared in surprise at her appearance, then he uttered, "What are you doing here?"

"Natsume, I-" her eyes landed on his toned chest and muscular arms, "uh-you" she sputtered.

He leaned his left arm against the door frame, his right hand still holding on to the door, his smirk plastered on his face as usual, "go on."

Mikan cleared her throat, blinking slowly, but couldn't seem to get her thoughts together, her eyes on his chest. Finally, she blurted, "do you ever stop flexing?"

He stared at her amusedly for a moment, "You came over to my apartment to ask me that?" Then he added, with an mock surprise smirk, as if the thought suddenly occurred to him, "Wait have you been thinking about me?"

"No!" Mikan slapped his chest in horror, then her eyes lingered on the spot she slapped him.

Natsume watched her, "Like what you see?"

Mikan made a face at him, scrunching up her nose, then her eyes trailed back to his chest, "Looks like that one's starting to redden a little bit," she could almost see the hand print of her slap. She blinked up innocently at him, "Did I slap you too hard?"

He stepped back to let her in, "Slap me any harder and I might have to call abuse."

"Oh, please," Mikan rolled her eyes, "be a man." She looked around the house in wonder and hidden awe as Natsume walked off.

His apartment minimalistic with the simplest but most elegant furniture matched perfectly with little lamps here and there. No extra accessories, no paintings, no wall murals, nothing. It was simple, neat, and clean.

"You're kidding, right?" He appeared from a door, presumably his bedroom, with a shirt in his hands. He quickly slipped it on, "I'm the manliest of all the men," He said this as he passed by her, his smirking face neared her and his voice dropped, as if telling a secret, "you've ever met."

She moved to slap him again, but he swerved out of the way. "That's a good one, Natsume, real funny joke."

Natsume had walked behind his island, back to pouring his milk. He looked up at her as he put the cap back on the milk carton. He gazed at her seriously, "I'm not joking."

Mikan gave him a skeptical smile, "You haven't even met all the men in my life." She approached him, leaning her elbows on the island as he turned to put the milk in the refrigerator.

He turned back, and he smirked at her. He matched her pose, leaning in to state smugly, "I don't need to." Then he straightened, picking up his mug to take a sip of his milk.

"I'm surprised you don't have a coffee maker here." Mikan said as she looked around the kitchen. "And that you're drinking milk."

Natsume shrugged, "I don't drink coffee." he moved on to his dining table, placing his mug there, but not taking a seat. "What's wrong with milk?"

"I don't know," Mikan followed him, taking a seat at the dining table, "I guess that's why you're so tall."

Mikan looked around in confusion, seeing that her audience had disappeared. "Natsume?"

"When did I give you permission to call me by my first name?" He reappeared from behind a wall next to the dining table.

"You didn't." Mikan replied craftily.

"I thought so." Natsume sat down across from her.

Mikan smiled sweetly at him, "I just started doing it to annoy you."

"That's a good excuse." He retorted smoothly.

She scowled at him, but couldn't find a good comeback.

There was a moment of silence where Mikan fidgeted under Natsume's unreadable gaze. Being an investigator for a job meant that he was very sharp and observant. He could tell there was something she wanted to know. "Why are you here?"

Mikan struggled with herself, fidgeting with her fingers. She bit her lip, peering at him shyly.

As attractive as she looked right now, Natsume muttered impatiently, "Spit it out."

"Natsume..." Mikan started tentatively, then looked him straight in the eye, "tell me about yourself."

Natsume's searching gaze returned her curious one. He realized, in that moment, that no one has actually attempted to know him like she is doing now. Ruka's different because they grew up together. A long moment passed before he replied, "Why?"

Mikan shrugged gently, "I don't know, if we're going to be friends, we should at least get to know each other."

Again, there was a long pause. Natsume seemed to be contemplating whether or not to comply with her request. It was against all his principles. He had never wanted to be close to anyone. (Again, Ruka was a given. They were like brothers.) Against everything inside him, he replied, "what do you want to know?"

Mikan smiled brightly, cupping her chin in her hands, she leaned her elbows on the table, "How old are you?"

"25." Natsume replied monotonously, "let me guess, you're 18?"

"23, thank you very much!" Mikan scowled at him, "When's your birthday?"

"November 27, yours?"

"New Year's Eve!" She exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Wow, your parents must've spent all day trying to get it right."

Mikan gave him a look, "you pervert!"

"I'm just saying," Natsume defended, "favorite color?"

"Orange! It's the happiest color of all!"

Natsume rolled his eyes, "Of course."

"I bet yours is something depressing like, I don't know, black."

He stared at her, then very slowly stated, "orange."

"No way." Mikan gasped, "That's my favorite color!"

"I know." He gave her an are-you-stupid look, "You just told me."

And as they continued talking, their questions escalated into deep, hard, soul-searching inquiries.

"First love?" Mikan asked casually.

Natsume stared at her, his defenses suddenly rising, "How do you know I have a first love?"

"I don't," Mikan shrugged, but he could see the lie in her eyes. "It was just a question."

"How?" He demanded. When Mikan refused to look at him, he suggested the only possible option, "Ruka told you didn't he?"

"No," Mikan replied quickly, then shifted her eyes nervously, "he didn't tell me - it was accidental - he mentioned - but he wouldn't tell me."

"That was the whole point of this wasn't it?" Natsume assumed quickly, his demeanor becoming cold. "All you wanted was a sob story to write about, huh?"

"No! I wasn't going to write about this!" Mikan exclaimed incredulous, "That's - I would never!"

But Natsume could not be stopped in his mean accusations, "But you started that whole 'being a friend' when all you really wanted to know was my little story."

"Maybe if you'd stop jumping to _false _conclusions, you'll see that that's not who I really am! " Mikan started getting mad, herself, "Why are you being so defensive?"

"Why are you being so intrusive?"

"Because you let me." Mikan answered quietly, "You let me be your friend and you let me ask those questions and you let me in your apartment. You let me in, Natsume."

Natsume knew it was true, but he stood up in annoyance, "I never let you in so you could sit in that chair and help yourself to my life problems."

Mikan followed him, standing up herself, "I'm not - I was just being a friend!"

"Oh - I didn't know being friends also meant therapists."

"All you had to say was I don't want to talk about it!" Mikan threw up her hands.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Mikan stared at his stone face, barely able to contain a frustrated scream. They were back to square one. "You know what? You're right. Maybe we don't work that well as friends. So since - _apparently_ - I helped myself in, I'll help myself out." Mikan storms out.

Natsume knew she didn't mean just out of his apartment, but his life. He clenched his fist, pounding the table. He fumed, Mikan's words repeating itself in his head.

Mikan fumed all the way to her own apartment. She got home, sat for a while, then started throwing sofa cushions at the walls.

Who knew a person could have so many walls of defense around himself?

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.

.

Natsume never thought righting a wrong could be so hard.

"just because you're a cop doesn't mean everyone is a bad guy!" Mikan hollered at him.

"just because you're a reporter doesn't mean everyone and everything has a story." Natsume retorted easily.

"Okay tell me something that doesn't have a story." Mikan challenged.

Natsume looked around in annoyance, "that plant."

"Actually, that plant was a seed that was planted by somebody and nurtured by somebody and grew up to be arrogant annoying asshole - with all capital As - and ended up in my apartment as much as I didn't like it."

Natsume replied quickly, "well then, that's a very sorry plant." and he almost slapped himself for not bring resist continuing with, "for having to put up with you for so long."

"That's fine," Mikan growled back, "the plant can leave."

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.

Mikan's frowned at the caller ID when her phone rang. She stared at it for a long moment, or more specifically, she stared at the ignore button. She let the call go to voicemail, but she barely had time to put the phone down before it rang again.

Mikan muttered under her breath in annoyance, but pressed answer after the fifth ring, "What do you want?"

"_You're overreacting."_

"No," Mikan growled, "You're taking this too lightly."

There was a short pause, then he blurted, _"Can I come over?"_

"No!" Mikan refused quickly, finding a legitimate excuse, "I'm going to shower!"

"_Doesn't mean I can't come over."_

"But I'm gonna be in the shower."

"_So?"_

"I'm not gonna open the door for you."

There was a sigh, _"Just because I'm an officer doesn't mean I don't know how to pick a lock."_

"What - Don't pick my lock!" Mikan replied incredulously.

"_You're right, I'll just climb in the window."_

"I'm on the twentieth floor!"

"_It's no big deal," _Mikan could almost hear the smirk in his voice,_ "there's no need to be impressed."_

Mikan narrowed her eyes, "ugh, you, I have a spare on- wait, no, I'm not telling you."

"_...is it on the ledge above the door?"_

"How did you-" Mikan caught herself quickly, "I mean, no!"

"_Do you also have a ladder just in case?"_

"Oh, shut up." Mikan growled, "I'm not short and I'm still mad at you."

Mikan hung up on him. She huffed, then gathered her stuff for the shower.

Natsume blinked, looking at his phone and shaking his head, chuckling quietly to himself. Only Mikan - and maybe Ruka - had the nerve to hang up and be mad at him.

Natsume pocketed the phone and sat in his car - like he had been for the past few minutes - staring up at Mikan's apartment building. He supposed he shouldn't make it too obvious that he had been there the entire time.

He started the engine, putting the car in reverse.

When Mikan got out of the shower, drying her hair with her towel, she walked out to her kitchen to find Natsume scooping food from her frying pan into plates.

She blinked at the scene. Then she stared at him as Natsume looked up with a raised eyebrow.

"You...cooked?" Mikan asked incredulously. She walked over and looked at the food with obviously curiosity.

"What, you didn't think I could?" Natsume replied, trying to shrug off her look of wonder. He turned around to place the empty pan in the sink. "You're washing dishes."

"I just - I - this - oh my gosh." Mikan looked between him and the food, "did you seriously make this?"

"No, I got take out and heated it on the frying pan." Natsume droned monotonously.

Mikan sighed in relief, "Oh good I was scared for a moment because I was starting to become impressed by you."

Natsume gave her a, 'are you serious' look. "I made it."

"You're just saying that because I said I was impressed." Mikan rolled her eyes, then looked back at the food, "I don't even have noodles here. And I know because I was craving ramen yesterday and searched all over the house for anything near it."

Natsume wordlessly held up an empty box where the uncooked noodles used to be.

Mikan stared at it for a long moment, then grabbed it from his hands, examining it as if wondering if it was real.

"So you did make me food." Mikan stated, still in shock, "and you went to," she paused to read the label on the box, "Trader Joe's for ingredients."

Natsume stayed silent, almost embarrassed now that he got credit for his work.

Mikan stared at him with an unreadable expression. Then quietly, she spoke, "is this an apology?"

Natsume avoided her gaze. "You always get hungry after you shower." Neither agreeing or disagreeing, Natsume stated nonchalantly as he sat at her dining table.

Mikan stared at him from across the table, with a slight smile, she spoke, "you remember that?"

Natsume refused to make eye contact as he sat down, "I remember a lot of things."

"Really." Mikan stared at him thoughtfully from across the table.

"You expect so little of me." Natsume half-joked, half-stated seriously.

"You act like I should." Mikan replied quickly, completely serious.

Natsume frowned in consideration, looking down at his food. "Yeah. You should."

Mikan stared at him, her face both disappointed and impressed at his humility.

"So...?" Natsume looked at Mikan questionably, almost uncertainly.

Mikan held up a finger as she swallowed her food, "I'm still mad at you."

Natsume raised his brow and then gestured to the food.

Mikan seemed to consider it for a moment, "You're forgiven. A little." She then squinted at her hand where she held up her index and thumb to show the space between. "Just a little."

He figured that was good enough as they moved on to other topics. There was a twinkle in Natsume eyes and a ghost of a smile on his lips as they talked well into the night.

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.

Mikan knocked, but when nobody answered, she let herself in with spare keys from Ruka.

Natsume looked up from the couch idly, took one look at the spare keys in her hand, then slid back down to his former position. "Ruka sent you."

"Oh good, your brain's working," Mikan stated as she left the keys on the counter and approached him on the sofa. "and you're still well and alive."

Natsume sent her a sideways glance when she sat down next to him. Mikan's heart nearly broke for the emptiness in his eyes.

There was a long bout of silence before she started, "have I ever told you about my parents?"

Natsume looked at her but said nothing.

"everyone does have a story you know." Mikan stated. Then she told him. She told him about her parents and about Narumi, and it felt...almost relieving. She's never told anyone before, and now that she has, she was glad it was Natsume.

When she was done, there's was a long pause. Neither of them moved, but they didn't need to. Somehow, as she was talking, Natsume's arm had reached out and pulled her in sideways. She had ended up quite comfortably resting her head on his shoulder and his arm around his shoulders. Her legs were tucked in and her arms wrapped around it, hugging her knees to her chest.

Slowly, he started stroking her hair. Then he told her his story. His father was a hero and died a hero. His mother told him so. He actually don't remember much of his father because he died when Natsume was three. It was before Aoi was born. That was his sister, Aoi.

"I'm a reporter-which is basically fifty percent detective! I could've figured that out!" Mikan had pouted at this point.

Natsume only sent a smirk and a, "I'm 100% detective," before moving on.

Growing up with a single mom was alright for a while. But the Hyuuga name didn't protect them for long. His mother, who was working two jobs, was never home. Natsume had to grow up too fast, so he could take care of his little sister. They may have struggled, sometimes they may have skipped dinner so their tired mother could have some, but they were a happy family.

"Even though she was tired when she came home at 8pm, she would stay and help me tuck Aoi in, she would tell us a story." Natsume recalled. "She would spend that time with us when that was the only break she had before her next job. She had barely an hour to sleep before she had to leave at 10pm. At 5 am she would come home and she'd stay up to watch us wake up and make us breakfast."

Natsume's mother had a best friend, Ruka's mother, who was worried about his mother as much as he was. Together, they'd try to convince his mother to quit one job, get her sleep, and let Ruka's mother help support them. But his mother was stubborn as a mule.

He had to watch, as the years went by, as his mother became more and more tired. He had to watch as she was laid off countless times for sleeping on the job. He had to watch as she went into an endless cycle of being fired then applying for another. He had to watch as eventually she fell sick. He was in middle school and Aoi was in elementary school.

He knew he couldn't do it, support Aoi and his mother's hospital bills. He was only 13. What could he do? It was the first time he cried in front of anybody, but he was thankful it was Ruka. His pride wouldn't allow it but Ruka knew, and Ruka's parents would accept nothing less than have the Hyuugas move in with her, and to pay for their mother's hospital bills. They wanted to her to live as much as Natsume did, they said.

Living with the Nogi's, life became easier. By the time he was in high school, he was able to start focusing on school, sports, normal teenage stuff. There was no need to worry about Aoi as much as he did before, or clean the house thoroughly to repel bugs, or spend all night trying to stuff mechanics into his premature brain so he could fix the dishwasher, the toilet, the fridge.

Though it was all behind him, he wouldn't dare forget the injustice of it all.

When Natsume was a sophomore in high school, he'll never forget the day he tried to visit his mother in the hospital. He couldn't even get within a block of it due to the police perimeter. They told him to stay put. But he argued, he said his mother was in there, he needed to make sure she was okay. The police officer only said that everything is fine, that they've got it, but he could tell the uncertainty in the man's eyes.

From what he could later deduce from papers and his own investigation, the same hospital had an important witness in it, one a powerful gang was adamant in keeping silent. They had broken into the hospital and assassinated him. However, along the way, there were casualties. His mother was one of them. By this time, she was healed enough to walk around. She had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. She immediately saw what was happening and tried to save the witness.

His father died a hero, his mother died a hero.

When he went to the police academy - so he could do a better job than those dumbasses that let his parents die - Ruka had went with him, having vowed to stick with him always. They were both proud when they graduated from police academy to see Aoi enter Cornell's law school.

It was his first year of being a police officer when he met her. Because of his intellectual ability and skills that he was quickly assigned to homicide. He was still a rookie, but he was happy with his assignment. He liked investigating. It was in one of his investigations that he met her. Her name was Luna. She was a young reporter. She was sweet, and she somehow understood him, she saw his struggles, and she was a ready listener.

It was her convincing listening that led him to trouble. Somehow she had managed to get into one of his investigations. Natsume was worried for her, so he had to tell her confidential information to make her realize how serious the situation was. He wanted her to leave, to run, to get away while she can. Instead, she turned around and she went to the press.

He was in trouble with his boss, for leaking, panicking the public, and basically compromising the investigation. Now their suspects were in the wind. Luckily, Aoi and Ruka were there for him, and Aoi, as a lawyer, was ready to file a suit against luna. She readied her weapons, and Luna knew she would lose. She had to write a press release stating that her claims were false and she only wanted attention, she was so desperate for a story she had to make it up. Meanwhile, Ruka had argued with the boss, and after a billion visits and a record of Natsume's history with the police department, the boss consented to having Natsume stay as homicide but only as a rookie. Natsume would have it no other way than to work his way up. He blamed himself for falling for Luna's schemes.

It didn't take him long and his boss was more than proud to promote Natsume to head detective by the time Natsume was 24.

This then leads to the present. Being a lawyer, and another stubborn advocate for justice, Aoi had gotten herself into trouble. She had been bringing a case against Persona and his gang when she was kidnapped. Natsume and his team jumped on the case, both investigating her kidnapping and his organization.

He didn't know if they waited until his team was close enough to the answers, or they just picked a time to give him a warning. The warning came in the dead body of Aoi.

Natsume looked at Mikan, finally meeting her eyes, and she saw the brokenness in his eyes.

Oh, the injustice of it all.

"What do I do now?" And though his voice was quiet, raspy, she could hear the uncertainty in it.

Mikan took a deep breath, "You go to her funeral, you're probably not going to move on from her death, but that's okay because you'll always remember her. They did this to her to get you off their back. You'll show them that this only added more fuel in your engine. You're going to get them, Natsume, and then you'll be okay."

"How do you know?"

"I don't, but it takes a leap of faith," Mikan turned to look him in the eye, and suddenly Natsume knew his answer. "trust me. It's going to be okay."

Quietly, he let out, "Okay."

A slow smile started to form on Mikan's lips, "Okay?"

Natsume nodded, continuing to stare at Mikan. He neared her, his eyes alternating between her eyes and her lips.

Mikan waited, then she rolled her eyes, "oh, just kiss me."

He paused, "not because you told me to but because I wanted to."

"you're a - mmphng."

When they broke apart, he smirked, "what was that?"

"you - mmph"

When they broke apart this time, Mikan spoke first, "I hate you." Controversially, she wound her arms around his neck.

"But your actions say otherwise," he murmured as he allowed himself to be pulled in closer to her.

Mikan laughed quietly, "I think I hang out with you too much."

"I don't think it's too much." Natsume muttered seriously, quietly, before he captured her lips again.

When they pulled apart, neither spoke. Natsume stared intensely at his girlfriend, searching her eyes. It was a long moment before he slowly dropped his head on her shoulder. Her arms tightened around his shoulders comfortingly and his arms dropped from pressing against the wall to leaning lightly on her waist.

It was the most intimate embrace either of them had ever felt.

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Sumire always did throw extravagant parties.

Natsume was not surprised that he was invited to her birthday party at, of course, her mansion, and that she wrote a personal note to him detailing what she would do if he didn't show up in a tux. It included the comment that even though he would look good in anything, and especially scrumptious in his uniform or undies, he needs to wear that tuxedo like a normal person. P.s. she knows that he is not a normal person - it was just a figure of speech.

Natsume was caught by surprise however by what he saw when he got there. In fact, he was so astounded he nearly stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of it, and he couldn't help but stare for quite some time before he came to his senses.

No, not strippers. No, not Persona.

It was possibly the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.

She was wearing a gorgeous soft pink dress, reminding him of Sakura trees. Her shoulders were wrapped in lace and her skirt flowed down elegantly, a little bit of cloth even trailing behind her as she walked.

And, of course, she was being hit on by numerous incredibly disgusting men.

Mikan Sakura moved away from the bar with a drink, twirling around the numerous people milling around the big ballroom, and settled with leaning against a column at the edge of the dance floor.

"I'm starting to think someone's trying to set us up." A deep, masculine voice spoke from behind her, startling her to turn around completely.

She blinked at the sight of Natsume, hands in his pockets, dressed in a tuxedo with faintly patted down hair. "Natsume!" She exclaimed in surprise, then smile in greeting, "I'm betting it's your best friend. My best friend-"

"-is a stone." He interrupted.

Mikan frowned slightly at him, "No, I was going to say, Hotaru would never torture me so." Then she smiled teasingly at his frown.

"Really."

Mikan took in his appearance, "well you look..." She didn't want to boost his ego, so she settled with, "masculine."

Natsume nearly laughed. Nearly. "you look feminine." He replied smoothly, his eyes mocking her.

"Aw, thanks," Mikan playfully batted her eyelashes, "well it's a good thing you can tell I'm a female now."

"You called me masculine!"

"I didn't want to stroke your ego."

"I did dress up for this, so I deserve some reward." His piercing gaze left no room for evading the question.

"You look spiffy," Mikan reluctantly replied, "and handsome, and kind of like you should be on the cover of some magazine." She scowled at Natsume's smug smirk, "There, see? Your ego has skyrocketed into space."

"My ego has always been in space." He replied almost snarkily.

Mikan frowned up at him, "well I did better than just masculine, so you had better do better than feminine."

"Let's just say, looking like that," Natsume's eyes wandered up and down her figure, before landing on her face, "someone might pick you up off the streets, shove some new clothes at you, and put you in a stripper bar."

Looking like what? She wanted to ask, but Mikan laughed, "That's ridiculous."

"They tried it with me." Natsume smirked.

It was Mikan's turn to look Natsume up and down, then she laughed, "No, they didn't."

"What? I don't look like I could be a male stripper?" Natsume glanced down at himself, "I was fully clothed, too, and they said they could see my rippling muscles just explode from behind the cages of that fine cloth."

Mikan laughed, "Did they really say cages? Rippling muscles? Please."

"Yeah." Natsume nodded fiercely, "I'm pretty sure they did."

"That is most ridiculous story I've ever heard," Mikan replied firmly, "and you are bragging."

Natsume shrugged, as if not knowing she was talking about, "There's nothing to brag about."

"Uh-huh, right," Mikan raised her eyebrows, then lowered her voice to imitate him, "I just flexed a little with you know, my biceps, no big deal really, and my ten-pack..."

A pair of green eyes narrowed at the scene. Natsume was leaning on the column, head bent slightly downwards, talking quietly to a laughing Mikan.

She marched across the floor, making a beeline to the couple.

"Mikan." She greeted with slightly fake sweetness and hidden rage.

The couple immediately broke apart in sight of the newcomer.

"Sumire!" Mikan greeted excitedly, "Hey! Happy birthday!"

"Mhmm," Sumire responded dismissively, she turned her head stiffly to greet her other guest, "Hyuuga."

"Shouda," Natsume tilted his head in response.

Sumire grabbed Mikan's arm, "Can I borrow her for a second?"

Natsume nodded affirmative, opening his palm up as a gesture for a "go ahead".

Sumire smiled tightly, and fiercely pulled Mikan away...far away.

"Sumire," Mikan called, "Sumire...Permyyy...Okay I think I lost blood circulation, Perms."

Sumire whirled around, "and I lost the perms, already, hon'."

Mikan only smiled, "You keep fuming like that, they're gonna curl right back up."

Sumire smiled back, "Okay, whatever Mik." Then she looked her straight in the eyes, "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

"Yes," Mikan stared back with a straight face, "I'm pregnant."

Sumire jumped up, grabbing both MIkan's hands, "I knew it!"

Mikan laughed loudly, "Oh my gosh, I'm kidding! Perms, I'm kidding!"

Sumire calmed down but looked at her sideways, "Are you? Mikan, are you really?"

"Yes," Mikan rolled her eyes. "So what's the big deal?"

"You and Hyuuga got something going on," Sumire stated, "am I not your best girlfriend or am I your best girlfriend? Come on, Mikan."

"I mean...Hotaru..." Mikan weighed her two arms indecisively.

"Okay, yeah, aside from her," Sumire rolled her eyes, "That's beside the point." She held Mikan's shoulders, "You are flirting with the hottest guy in my party. Girl, we've been friends for how long? I did not think you have game - look at you," she released her friend to gesture to her outfit, "You look like a grandma. Lace up to your collar and soft pink, what?"

"Hey, I like it!" Mikan patted down her dress, "It's got a slit on the side, look," she held out her leg so the slit would show.

Sumire tilted her head and made a humming noise, "I guess it's kind of cute. Yeah."

Mikan slid her foot back, "Hottest guy in your party, really? There's like 60," she looked around, "or 100, I don't know."

"86, honey," Sumire corrected, "That's not counting the male waiters, who, by the way, are models." Sumire winked.

"No wonder I thought they looked familiar." Mikan nodded innocently.

"Seriously? Not even a single drool? Unbelievable." Sumire rolled her eyes, "But anyway, look at your new love interest, Mik, look at him. He is a hunk."

Mikan did look. Natsume was still leaning against the pillar where they left him, sipping his champagne and staring at the dancers on the dancefloor. It looked like a scene out of a Giorgio Armani photoshoot. Especially the way he wore that tuxedo. Even if he was wearing it like any normal man. As if feeling their stare, he looked up, then rose his eyebrows at them.

Mikan turned back to Sumire who smiled and waved at him before turning back to her. "Did you see the way he turned and looked at us with those deep, mysterious, dark eyes and beautiful face and the way he leaned against that pillar _mmhmm_ you can lean against me anytime, babe."

"Sumire, honey, you have a boyfriend."

"I'm still a little mad Koko didn't introduce his buddies until after we started dating."

"I wonder why," Mikan rolled her eyes.

"The blond, Nogi, is real dashing too," Sumire cupped her cheek, her eyes staring up as if daydreaming, "like the perfect prince charming coming out of a fairytale. He's so incredibly sweet too. And they're both police officers? How can a man be so perfect?"

"Back to Earth, Perms." Mikan rolled her eyes.

Sumire looked back at Mikan, narrowing her eyes at her, "I can't believe you never told me anything. I can't believe we're friends. When I saw you two flirting - oh my goodness - I was so mad. You can imagine my train of thought when I marched towards you like a woman on a mission. Like Mean Girls. Like when the girls walk down that hallway, I was literally like you cute but get out of my way."

"Permy," Mikan interrupted, "You're overreacting."

Sumire frowned, then paused.

Mikan's eyes widened, "I know that look."

"I will stop being mad if you'll tell me the story. You know, like the notebook, in The Notebook."

"There's not much to tell..." Mikan trailed off evasively.

Sumire stared at her with crossed arms.

"Okay, short version." Mikan took a deep breath, then started slowly, "We started off hating each other."

"That sounds like how you two would react to attention from the opposite sex." Sumire commented. Mikan gave her a look. Sumire shrugged, "Sorry, keep going."

"But, I don't know, we keep bumping into each other." Mikan smiled sheepishly, "And he keeps saving me from these bad guys...maybe like five times already."

"Oh, Knight in Shining Armor, sexy," Sumire commented.

"Even when he's not in uniform, like it's not even his duty, and I don't know, it's like we just end up spending some time together, but I mean we'd argue 'cause he's a total rude ass and jerk and I'd give him -"

"Attitude." Sumire filled in, "Yup, Sounds like the Mikan I know."

"I was gonna say a piece of my mind," Mikan corrected, glaring playfully at her friend, "Yeah, I guess we totally clashed but...you know," she averted her eyes, "but when we really clashed, we _really_ clashed..."

"Honey, you lost me." Sumire shook her head at her friend. "Tell it to me straight."

Mikan smiled sheepishly, "After he saved me like fifth time, um, we kissed."

Sumire gasped loudly, and nearly screamed. But Mikan, having known her for so long, covered her mouth before it happened, laughing along at her reaction. Sumire pulled her friends hands away, "Is he a good kisser?"

"Hell YES!" Mikan replied as enthusiastically as Sumire and they both squealed. Mikan covered her mouth just as Sumire laughed loudly, not bothering to hide it, glancing at Natsume.

"You, my dear amazing friend, have scored the most sexy, hot, _sexy_ unapproachable man, I am so proud of you." Sumire stated dramatically, "you know what comes next?" She winked and nudged her.

Mikan slapped her friend, "We didn't do it! But we did kiss a couple times...like took it to like second base...maybe?"

"Ooh," Sumire looked at her friend suggestively, "Well, so you guys are an item now, right?"

Mikan looked a little disappointed, "That's the thing. I don't know, he shows up sometimes when I jog and he'd jog...next to me."

"That's called jogging TOGETHER, dumbass!" Sumire nearly yelled at Mikan, then quietly, "Oh my gosh, you see him all sweaty and hot," she then turned to Mikan, "dang, how much does it take to not just jump him?"

"What," Mikan pfft-ed, "I don't have the urge to jump him when he's all sweaty and his biceps are showing..."

"Deny all you want," Sumire rolled her eyes, "You didn't answer my question, are you two together, or not?"

"Sometimes we'd eat together, I mean, I don't know, it just happens. He doesn't specifically asks me out or anything..."

"So?" Sumire dragged the word out in emphasis.

Mikan shrugged, "He hasn't, really - he gives me mixed signals."

Sumire sighed, "Then what are you doing here?"

"You dragged me here!" Mikan replied in confusion.

"Go pounce on him," Sumire turned Mikan around, towards Natsume, "C'mon, like a tigress, rewrr! Repeat after me. Do it."

Mikan laughed as Sumire and her walked back towards where they came from.

Natsume just finished talking with Ruka, who walked off to meet up with Hotaru, when the two ladies approached.

"Uh, hi," Mikan started awkwardly.

Sumire gave her a look, then turned to Natsume with a charming smile, "She's all yours."

Mikan's eyes widened at all kinds of meanings her friend tried to imply.

Natsume nodded slowly, in amused confusion.

"Take care of her." Sumire patted Natsume's in the chest, her hand lingering a little bit.

"I will," he replied slowly, as he looked questionably at Mikan.

Mikan smiled tightly, "She's just kidding," she then shoved Sumire away, who winked at them, before disappearing into the crowd.

"You weren't supposed to play along." Mikan added.

Natsume smirked, "So I heard you two scream, then look at me," he gave her a questioning look, "What's that about?"

"We were just saying that," Mikan smiled, "who knew Natsume Hyuuga, oh King of Assholes, could actually be charming."

"It's one of my many talents," Natsume smirked smugly. His body pivoted away from her and he looked out at the dance floor. "Along with dancing."

"I wouldn't call your dancing a talent until I've seen you on either ABDC or So You Think You Can Dance."

He looked at her in mock surprise, "You didn't watch season six?"

"That's funny," Mikan grinned, "I watched all of them."

"So..." Natsume looked out at the dance floor coolly, averting his eyes, "you think you can dance?" he turned to look at her, penetrating her with his eyes, "With me?"

"Lame!" Sumire yelled from across the floor, her arm hooked to a laughing Koko.

"Did you hear something?" Natsume asked Mikan as he led her out to the dance floor.

"Nope." Mikan replied quickly, glaring at Sumire over Natsume's shoulder.

You can imagine what happened next. They danced, they talked well into the night and he walked her home.

Not.

Somehow, they fell into their usual flow of argument and he followed her home as Mikan claims.

Somehow, they were onto the topic of other guys. As much as they didn't wanna admit it, it was a lover's spat.

"I don't care about what they think, I care about what you think."

Natsume turned to look at her deeply for a second but said nothing.

Disappointment radiated off Mikan as she went on, "they kept saying I was so beautiful today but I'm pretty sure they just wanted to get under my skirt."

"since when did you get smart?"

"oh, shut up."

"and they're wrong."

"What? About the beautiful thing?"

Natsume nodded once.

"Well gee thanks, that's one way to say 'you're ugly, Mikan.' see, it wasn't so hard to say what you really feel was it?"

Natsume frowned in slight annoyance, "no, they said today."

"oh, so i'm ugly everyday."

"you're not listening to me." Natsume followed her in her bedroom, he caught her, twirled her to face him, then cupped her face in his hands.

Mikan did have a way of making him say what he really felt. He stroked her cheek for a second, looking deep into her confused eyes before muttering quietly, "You're not only beautiful _today_."

Though it might've been the most roundabout way to compliment her, Mikan was struck speechless.

Then quietly she spoke, "Natsume, what are we?"

Natsume released her, turning away.

"Don't run away from this Natsume, like you always do."

Natsume gritted his teeth, "I'm not running away."

"Yes you are," Mikan replied firmly, "and you're really giving me mixed signals."

"Mixed signals?"

"sometimes I think you hate me or dislike me or I don't know, sometimes we don't feel like a couple at all because we just argue. But sometimes you are the sweetest guy. Sometimes I don't know what to think."

"you think too much. Just don't think."

"how am I supposed to not think when you ignore me one day but act concerned another day."

"i'm not acting."

"and you just said something so incredibly sweet and romantic, how am I supposed to react to that?"

"oh, I don't know with a thank you? Maybe a kiss too?"

"you- speaking of kisses. You are just so unpredictable, just randomly kissing me-"

"you can't say you don't like them"

"but why?"

"Why? What do you mean why? Do I have to have a reason for everything I do?"

"yes because that's the kind of person you are! Why do you randomly kiss me and randomly come out of nowhere sometimes and save me from bad guys and why are you so bipolar and why do you try to push me away but you say it's hard to resist me-"

"Why? Because -" Natsume threw his hands up in frustration, "I'm starting to think I'm in love with you which is possibly the weirdest, most ridiculous thing that's ever happened to me."

His words, I'm in love with you, echoed in her head. Mikan opened her mouth but closed it, then she settled with, "oh."

Natsume ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "I just said I was in love with you and all you say is, 'oh'?" Then he breathed as he returned his palm against the wall, "You are so infuriating sometimes."

Mikan sputtered, attempting to explain herself, "I'm infuriating?! You're infuriating!"

Natsume gave her an annoyed look. "That's not the point."

Mikan smiled cheekily at him, "Sorry."

"Well?"

Mikan continued looking at him with a mischievous smile.

"No," Natsume gave her a stern look, reading her mind, "You are not gonna keep me in the dark." When Mikan only grinned wider, he growled, "I hate you."

Mikan snickered, "You're so self-contradictory - like a paradox!"

"Oh look, a big word," he rolled his eyes, "congratulations."

Mikan continued grinning at him. She let herself linger on the thought that he is _so_ cute.

Natsume scowled at her, "You know you're giving me the 'you're cute' look, right?"

Mikan approached him slowly, earning a cautious look from him.

"I'm not going to forget that you never answered me, you know," Natsume stared at her seriously.

Mikan stopped only a breath away from him. Their bodies barely touching. She grinned up at him and he looked down at her with his deep crimson eyes.

She always did like that piercing stare of his.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" He finally whispered down at her.

She laughed at him, then quietly, she finally spoke, "I like you too."

"Like?" Natsume looked really bummed.

And Mikan fought the urge to pat his head, "okay, maybe love."

"Maybe?"

Mikan grinned at his uncertain look.

Natsume was caught by surprise when Mikan's lips crash into his and her arms wrap around his neck. He felt her smile into the kiss. It didn't take him long to wind his arms around her slim waist.

After about the third kiss, Natsume breathed, "I knew you loved me."

"Oh yeah?" Mikan challenged, "Did you also know I'm not wearing any underwear?"

Natsume paused.

Mikan laughed hysterically, "Just kidding! You should've seen the look on your face."

Natsume scowled down at her, but turned his lips into a wolfish grin, "I do know," he brushed a little of her hair behind her ear, "that by the end of the night you won't be wearing," he leaned down closer to whisper in her ear, "anything."

Mikan gasped, slapping his chest, but laughed when he winced. "Easy there, tiger."

Natsume, rubbing his chest, retorted with a wink, "Look who's already all over me, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," Mikan growled back, kissing him again.

When they parted, Natsume leaned his forehead against hers. Mikan laughed quietly and Natsume Hyuuga smiled.

Suddenly, Mikan pushed back, holding him at arm's length. "You never did tell me what you think about me."

"It's hard to explain." Natsume replied evasively.

But Mikan wouldn't budge, she crossed her arms, "How's it hard to explain? You can describe me in one word. Lots of people have done it."

Natsume rolled his eyes, "Have they said persistent, yet?"

"No, but I'm sure they will." Mikan replied easily, "Is that your word?"

Natsume shook his head slowly, then stared at her for a moment. "I can't really put it in words," he replied, a mischievous glint in his eyes, approaching her slowly, "So I'll make you feel what I really think of you."

Mikan furrowed her eyebrows, but didn't have time to reply for he suddenly pushed her against her wall, his hands holding her waist, sandwiching her body between his and the wall

She blinked, breathing an, "_Oh._" He smirked in that handsome way of his before capturing her lips in passion.

Nearly overwhelmed by the kiss, she subconsciously wound her arms around his neck. He held her above the ground and her legs naturally wrapped around his waist. They pushed off from the wall as she fought back with as much passion.

It wasn't long before he carried her onto the bed. Mikan smiled, stopping Natsume for a second, "You know, I don't know how you ever resisted me for so long because I'm feeling pretty sexy right now."

Natsume grabbed his shirt, pulling it over his head, revealing a very well toned upper body, threw the shirt across the room, and chuckled darkly, "That's a good start."

"Did you say," Mikan's eyes widened impressively, but her eyes wandered down to his chest as he hovered over her "Start?"

Natsume laughed quietly, moving in to kiss her.

.

.

.

Natsume blinked slowly. Watching, as with each blink, the sight ahead of him - mostly white - became clearer.

He looked around with slight wrinkle in his forehead, eyes sweeping over the hospital room. He swallowed in the usual hospital stuff, but paused and double-backed to his left. He stared at the form by his side for a long moment. He realized that it was Mikan, sitting in a chair, head in her arms rested on the left side of his bed. No wonder he felt very warm on that side. He stared at her even breathing in the subtle rise and fall of her back.

As if feeling his stare, Mikan's head slowly rose. She stared straight ahead, blinking slowly, lifting her right arm to rub her eyes. Then she glanced at him, sitting back. She double-backed to stare at him as he stared at her.

"Natsume?" Mikan blinked as the fact that Natsume was staring at her sank in. She jumped up, "You're awake!"

He nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off of her. "I'm alive." He croaked quietly, as if not believing it himself.

Mikan nodded excitedly, grasping his left hand, the one closest to her. "I have to call the doctor-" she moved to let his hand go.

Natsume held on, however, his right hand reached out and grasped Mikan's wrists for reinforcement.

Mikan turned back to him in question. "Natsume?"

He struggled to sit up, against her protest. Mikan decided it was futile forcing him to lay down, so she helped him. Once he was settled, Natsume grabbed her wrist, much to her surprise, and pulled at it, forcing her to come closer.

Mikan, seeing as she was Mikan, stumbled, and in attempt to save herself, her arms flailed. Natsume caught her first however. His left arm wrapped around her waist, his right arm cupping her chin, and his lips crashing down on hers in a long, sweet kiss.

Her entire body froze in surprise.

Mikan blinked when they pulled apart, then scowled at him, exclaiming, "You wake up and then you kiss me, you!"

Natsume, however, was unaffected. He smiled, one of his rare qualities, at her, speaking quietly, with finality, "I'm alive. You're alive."

Mikan couldn't stay mad at him. She smiled back, "I know, it's a miracle, right?"

"Nah, it's me saving you, and us both." Natsume replied, and Mikan knew he was back.

"You are so full of yourself." Mikan retorted as usual.

Natsume smirked, then pulled her in for another kiss.

.

.

.

"I can't tell if it's Mikan or Natsume that has the hero complex." Ruka muttered, as he recalled the events of the past few months.

"The 'I gotta save the world' idea? Both of them has a severe case of it." Koko replied, rolling his eyes, then he lit up, as if a thought occurred, "But since it's what brought them together, I say it's not that bad."

"What brought them together?" Ruka repeated incredulously, "It's more than that. It's their only similarity. They are completely opposite people!"

Koko shrugged, "Opposites attract but it's also the similarities that make them stick."

"Wait, so, Natsume wants to save Mikan on the more physical level from harm, and Mikan wants to save Natsume on the more emotional level."

"Yeah, sounds about right." Koko affirmed, being the one with the psychology minor.

Ruka paused suddenly, "But technically _I_ brought them together..."

Koko rolled his eyes, "here we go."

"Yeah," Ruka nodded, smiling victoriously at his own self-proclaimed accomplishment, "I made Natsume go interview Mikan that first time, and then I introduced them at the diner and made him go after her..."

.

.

SHOUT OUT AND THANKS TO SPICA14 FOR CATCHING MY ERROR :)

Sorry it's been so long! I rewrote this like ten times. It's hard to make a sequel as good as the original. Technically, this isn't a sequel, but still, I hope you liked it!

Also, I don't know if you got this, but **part one is about Natsume saving Mikan. Part two is about Mikan saving Natsume. And this all relates back to their hero-complex. **Discussed by Ruka and Koko. So I hope you guys see where I get the title from.


	3. Deleted Scenes

I told you I wrote the sequel like ten times, didn't I? Well there had to be some deleted scenes...

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**DISCLAIMER: these are all DELETED SCENES, not part of the story! and there is no particular order to these scenes.**

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**.**

It had to be fate. Or some weird voodoo coming after them to make them come across each other the same day.

Or maybe it was Ruka.

He peered around the corner where Natsume's apartment door stood. He was holding his phone in his ear, and listened as Koko spoke conspicuously, "Batman's heading to the cave, I repeat, batman's heading to the cave."

"Roger that," Ruka confirmed as he looked around.

"Ruka?" Natsume's voice came from behind him, causing him to jump in shock and fright.

"N-natsume! Hey! I was just looking for you!" Ruka laughed nervously, his voice strangely high and his phone in his hand, forgotten.

Natsume stared at his best friend for a long three seconds, then walked past him, "You're in the wrong hallway."

"Oh, pfft," Ruka waved at the air, "You know me, I always get lost here."

Natsume sent him a sideways glance, then turned to look at the door as he opened it with his keys.

When they entered his apartment, Natsume nodded at Ruka's phone, "I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation"

Ruka looked at the phone in his hand as if seeing it for the first time, "Oh, yeah, psh, we were just wrapping up," he turned away, muttering quietly in the phone, "Abort, you hear me? Mission abort."

He hung up quickly, turning around to smile at a suspicious Natsume.

.

When Natsume walked in the diner at the usual time heading towards the usual table where he and Ruka always ate lunch together, he was not at all happy to find Mikan there.

He sat down just as she looked up in surprise, then confusion. He ignored her genuine body language, staring at her suspiciously, "Why are you stalking me?"

"That's the second time you asked me this today," Mikan glared back, "and I'm not stalking you."

When Natsume stared at her skeptically, Mikan continued, "Ruka was gonna meet me here, so if you'll excuse me," MIkan moved to get up, "I think I got the wrong table."

"No, sit," Natsume stated, then gestured for her to sit down, "Ruka told me he was going to meet me here."

Mikan sniffed at how Natsume ordered her to sit, but did so anyway, grumbling, "I'm not a dog."

Natsume ignored her, calling Ruka on speed dial.

Ruka, meanwhile, was sitting in the police station, next to Koko, grimacing when the phone call came. He threw it at the fellow officer, "Here it comes, Koko, you pick it up."

Koko threw it back, "No, you pick it up,"

"No, you,"

"No-"

"Oh, I'll do it." Mochu snatched the phone in mid-air, rolling his eyes at the antics of his comrades, "Hi, Natsume."

"_Mochu, tell Ruka to get his pussy shut together and tell me why I'm sitting here with a girl."_

Mochu's eyes widened, throwing the phone at Ruka, mouthing, "You set him up with a girl? Are you crazy?"

Ruka threw the phone at Koko, mouthing, "He's so pissed!"

Koko threw it back, mouthing back, "What did you expect him to be? Jolly?!"

Natsume, seemingly heard the struggle over the phone, yelled, "Someone pick up the damn phone!"

"Look, Natsume," came Ruka's voice, "Before you say anything, okay, you guys had a disagreement the last time you two ate together so I thought I'd, you know, let you fix the problem, so there's no loose ends or anything. I'm only looking out for you."

"That was yesterday," Natsume replied with gritted teeth, "And I _did_ fix the problem, we were fine."

There was a shuffle, then Koko's voice came through, "I had nothing to do with this, Natsume, I swear!"

"That's a lie," Ruka's voice came back, "it was all his idea, I was just the sidekick."

"Okay, so maybe it is," Koko's voice came through again, "But Ruka did most of the work!"

"You're both dead." Natsume growled.

Mikan sat across from him with crossed arms, muttering, "So mean. Why do you even have friends?"

"He deserves it for setting me up with you." Natsume muttered back, sending her a look.

Mikan considered it for a moment, then leaned forward to yell into the receiver, "Ruka, of all the men in the world, why him?!"

Natsume sent her a look, "You're not so charming yourself."

"I can be charming when I want to be." Mikan replied snootily, "You, on the other hand," she tsked, "there's no hope."

"Really," Natsume replied, feeling as if challenged, "By the end of this date -"

Mikan narrowed her eyes, "My feelings are not gonna change."

At the same time, Natsume spoke. "You're going to be in love with me."

There was a pause before Natsume stated, "Wanna bet?"

"you. will. lose." Mikan crossed her arms.

Natsume turned back to the phone, "Guess we'll stay with the date, Ruka." Then he hung up, turning back to Mikan with a smirk, "Let's start at the beginning."

Ruka looked at his phone, seeing that Natsume had hung up on him, then looked at Mochu and Koko in bewilderment. "I think that worked out pretty well."

.

When Natsume Hyuuga turned on his charm, he really turned on his charm.

"If it didn't work the first time, _Natsume_," Mikan smiled charmingly, "It's not gonna work the second time."

"Who says I don't want to just go on another date with you?"

Mikan smiled at him, patting him on the chest, "My answer's no."

.

The next day, when Ruka turned around in his chair, and Koko and Mochu gathered around his desk. He glared at them.

Koko immediately read his look, "She rejected you?!"

"I knew she was perfect for this job." Ruka gloated.

Natsume glared at him, "You hired her to ground my ego?" He stood up, giving him an angry look, "are you my best friend or not?"

When he stormed off, and Mochu and Koko turned to stare at Ruka, he said, "I am."

"You hired an actress?"

Ruka rolled his eyes, "She's not an actress, and I didn't hire her. I set them up. That's all."

"So she really did reject him because she didn't like him," Koko replied.

"Any actress would've fallen for him in one date even if she was paid not to anyway," Mochu added, patting Ruka's back, "I never doubted for a second, man."

Koko nodded along with Mochu, "Yeah, I didn't think you'd go that low. Good pick on the girl though. I gotta meet her."

.

Natsume looked up her address from his phone. Of course she lived in a rich area.

When she opened the door, he didn't let her voice her surprise before he accused, "I lost the bet because you were paid to win."

"Excuse me?"

"You just can't believe you lost, can you?" Mikan replied bitterly, "You're a real asshole. That's why I didn't like you. Maybe I'm not like most girls, but I don't care how charming or hot you make yourself to be. If you were actually listening when I introduced myself, I'm a reporter. I've met a lot of charming assholes, and I didn't like any of it. I don't like you, get over it."

Natsume was silent for a moment, then he opened his mouth. Then he closed it. He opened it again, mumbling, "That was a misunderstanding."

"No shit, Sherlock." Mikan crossed her arms, unimpressed.

Natsume turned to leave,"Yeah, let's just both move on -"

"I'm still waiting for your apology."

Natsume paused, "and I'm still waiting for flying cars, but sometimes not everybody gets what they want." He turned to look at her, just to see the door slam in his face.

He heard her scream "asshole" from behind the door. He didn't know why he was so amused.

.

.

.

"Are you trying to seduce me?"

Mikan stared at him, "No?"

Mochu whispered to Natsume, "You're lucky she's stupid."

"I know."

"Excuse me?"

.

.

.

"I have to go to work," Mikan told him, gathering her stuff. "can we talk about this later?"

"no, you can be late to work." Natsume was adamant, "I'm a cop."

"oh, that's a good excuse," Mikan retorted sarcastically, "so I'll just be like, 'you can't fire me cause I was talking to a cop.'"

Natsume looked down, but looked back at her. He didn't reply.

Mikan stops rushing around for a second to face him. Gently, quietly, she asked, "what do you want?"

"Who are you?" he blurted, because he didn't know what it was about her that made her different from the rest of his friends, "Why are you asking Ruka about me? Why...what's your motive?"

Mikan blinks slowly, looking away for a moment. But when she turned to face him, the look she gave him almost shamed him."Are we...friends? Or...am I just another investigation?" She searched his face, "Natsume?"

Of course Natsume had no answer to that. He couldn't even figure out what she is to him right now.

She exhaled loudly in frustration and disbelief, and showed it by throwing her hands up. She stalked to him, "There's a word that people in a relationship like to use," she paused for effect, and seeing his non responsive attitude, continued, "it's called trust."

She walked past him to the door. "help yourself out." She yelled behind her. She paused for second by the doorway.

Natsume lifted a hand half-heartedly, but no sound came out.

She sighed, refusing to look at him as she closed the door with finality.

.

.

.

"alright if you two are going to keep bumping into each other might as well get to know each other." Ruka suggested.

Natsume and Mikan glanced at each other. At the same time, they turned back to Ruka and spoke, "no."/ "nope."

Ruka scowled, then turned to Koko, "well, I tried. It's your turn."

Koko clapped his hands together, rubbing them with an evil grin on his face, "How about we lock you two in an elevator! That seems to work for 89% of the fanfiction stories out there!"

With horror, the pair exclaimed, "NO!"

"I'm never taking an elevator with you in it, ever." Mikan told Natsume with wide eyes.

"What is an elevator? All I know is stairs." Natsume replied, his way of saying he'll never take an elevator, period.

.

.

.

"When are you gonna stop fighting me?" Natsume scowled, though lightly. It really amazed him how stubborn she can be.

"When you stop making me fall for you," Mikan replied quickly, walking off to hide the blush on her cheeks.

_Never_, Natsume smirked as he trailed after her.

Mikan frowned at his lack of a response, turning to look at him – only to be met with a sweet kiss.

When they parted, Natsume flashed her a quick devilish smile that nearly melted her, then he spoke quietly, "better it be me than somebody else."

Mikan wrinkled her nose at him, "You are so full of yourself." But couldn't help the smile on her face as she turned away.

.

.

.

Everyone in the station could tell when Natsume is in a horrible mood – which was usual, except for the mean and brooding cloud that hung around him, that made this worse than usual.

"It's a girl." Koko stated nonchalantly as he sat on the desk next to Ruka.

Ruka paused, and then turned back to work, "Natsume does not have girl problems."

"Fine, you go to talk to him, and when you come back and you can tell me I'm right."

"I told him I was done with him, if you're so curious, you go."

Koko clapped his hands together theatrically, "Aw, Ruka and Natsume broke up? Is that why he's in a bad mood?"

"No." Ruka glared at him.

"Alright, fine, if he comes after me, I'm coming after you."

Ruka sighed, "this is _not_ my problem."

"So," Koko dragged the word out as he approached Natsume. Natsume didn't bother glancing at him or acknowledging his presence at all. Koko continued, "Got into a fight with the girlfriend?"

Natsume paused to glare at him, but didn't bother to reply.

Normally, anyone would be disheartened. But it was Koko, and he was counting on him not responding, actually.

"Sometimes, being in love means swallowing your pride." Koko commented in passing. Natsume looked up, only to stare at Koko's retreating back. Natsume turned back to his work, but failed to focus.

Koko bounced back to Ruka, grinned from ear to ear, "I was right, and you, my friend, has just been de-ranked from best friend status."

Ruka rolled his eyes, "that's fine, _you_ deal with all his angst drama."

"I do not have angst drama." A new voice entered the conversation.

The two turned to see Natsume pass by, and watched where he was headed to see Hotaru stand stiffly at the front of the station.

"You wish you don't," Ruka muttered as he stood up to follow his partner. Natsume turned to give him a look. Ruka corrected cheekily, "_I_ wish you don't."

Koko trailed after them in curiosity.

When the three were close enough, Hotaru stated curtly, "Persona is out, I want police protection."

Natsume frowned, but Hotaru continued, "I'm not moving anywhere, only some surveillance, and one policeman. Someone on the case, and someone you trust."

Natsume paused, thinking, and then turned to look at Ruka.

Koko hid a snigger behind his hand when Ruka's eyes widened to the size of baseballs. Ruka smiled politely at Hotaru, pulling Natsume aside. Koko followed.

"I think you forget that I'm your partner and I am on this case." Ruka growled at Natsume.

"I didn't forget." Natsume replied innocently.

"Har har." Ruka scowled, "I may not look like it but I have my own shit to deal with."

"No you don't," Natsume countered, "I'm pretty sure you said, 'the only shit I have to deal with is yours and I'm done with that.'"

Ruka inwardly slapped himself, "I did not say that," but was not convincing for Natsume gave him a look, "okay, I did, but you twisted my words!"

Natsume shrugged, "You don't have to deal with my angst drama if you go."

Ruka scowled, "I'd rather deal with that than babysit."

"It's not babysitting, it's blackmail."

The three men turned in surprise to see Hotaru smirking behind them. Natsume's face remained blank, Ruka shut his mouth tightly, and Koko grinned.

Koko was the first to speak, "blackmail?"

"Yes," Hotaru replied calmly, "I need someone on the case and that Hyuuga trusts so I can pass off information." Then she smiled, sending shivers down Ruka's spine, and Koko gulped. "I know you can't do without my information, hm?"

"Hm, that is blackmail," Natsume turned to Ruka, "Good luck." He patted his back as he went back to work.

Koko laughed loudly, patting Ruka's back in turn, "good luck," he winked.

Hotaru only smirked as Ruka muttered, "why me?" to no one in particular.

.

.

"I believe 'slave' was not in your job description." Ruka muttered.

"What?" Hotaru turned to him.

Ruka only stared back at her innocently, "what?"

"Whiny, aren't you?"

Ruka's face changed dramatically, "I am not whiny!"

And Ruka being Ruka nearly made Hotaru laugh. But Hotaru Imai does not laugh, so she smiled chillingly, "we'll see about that."

.

.

.

Natsume looked at Koko and Ruka suspiciously as they approached, "Why are you double-teaming me?"

"We're not-what?" Ruka looked at waved his hands in the air, looking around guiltily.

Koko kept a constant grin on his face. Steadily, he blurted, "because you need to profess your love."

Natsume stared them down evenly.

Ruka glared at Koko, muttering, "That is not how we planned it. I said slow and steady."

Koko only stared back at Natsume with his wide grin, muttering back, "This IS slow and steady."

Natsume only took a deep breath then went back to his work, turning to face his desk.

His two friends moved in front of the desk to face him again.

"Look, come on man," Ruka pleaded with him, "you've been - you two - I mean - this is like - she's - you two -"

"It's only been a year." Natsume replied evenly, not looking up, "that we've been," Natsume shrugged, letting the sentence trail, not willing to admit it.

"AN ITEM?!" Koko replied, "YEAH, EXACTLY. That is HUGE."

Natsume finally looked up, "What are you trying to say?"

"I mean," Koko waved his palms out, "not that you don't have game or anything uh, I mean-" Koko paused suddenly, "what do you even call yourselves, anyway?"

Natsume's look changed just slightly.

"NO LABEL?!" Koko gasped as if personally offended, "What! How can you do this to a girl? You know how girls think!"

"No," Natsume replied monotonously, "Actually, I don't."

"But - you - Of course you don't! Then you -"

"You are in love with her." Ruka interrupted impatiently.

Koko gave his "partner" a look, muttering, "wow. easy there tiger."

Natsume only stared at them, then looked at Koko, "Are you going to propose to Sumire?"

Koko sputtered, "I-we-just-FIRST DATE!" He huffed, "We haven't even, you know, first base or anything..."

There was an awkward silence as the three stared at each other.

Ruka rolled his eyes, "Okay, so you're trying to prove a point, whatever. It's a totally different situation."

"That defeats the purpose of proving a point."

Ruka and Koko looked at each other and sighed. They turned sulkily in their defeat.

But Koko couldn't help adding a last word, "If you're not going to tell her, and you won't put a label on the relationship, you're gonna end up like 500 Days of Summer."

When Natsume gave him a blank look.

Koko turned around, "Seriously?"

"Do I look like I watch chick flicks?"

Koko opened his mouth to say something, then changed his tactic, "point is, it's not gonna end up well. At all." Koko gave a few hand gestures to theatrify the scene, "the 'what are we?' 'are we just a fling?' 'are you serious about me?' 'am i just a call girl?' 'how do you really feel about me?' 'do you really like bananas or were you lying?' 'are you really who I think you are?'-"

"I get it. And I _don't_ like bananas." Natsume stopped him, but Koko knew in his eyes that he heard him. Like, really listened to him. Satisfied, Koko left with theatrical bow.


End file.
